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91  ./.u    jLitjj.  j.|jr  xii 

Arctic  problem  & 
narrutiY_(3  of  the 
Peary  relief   expedition, 

2 

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THE 

VRCTIC  PROBLEM 


AND   NARRATIVE  OF  THE 


Peary  Reliee  Expedition 


ACADEMY  OF  NATURAL  SCIENCES 


OF  PHILADELPHIA. 


ANGELO  HEILPRIN 

LEADER  OF   THE    PEARY    RELIEF    EXPEDITION 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  ACADEMY  OF  NATURAL  SCIENCES  ;   PRESIDENT 
OF   THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  CLUB  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 


/  PHILADELPHIA. 

CONTEMPORARY  PUBLISHING  CO. 

628  Chestnut  Street. 

1893. 


Copyright  1893, 
Contemporary  Publishing  Co. 


Engraved  and  Printed  by 

Levytype  Company. 

Philadelphia. 


Or 
V\'2>(o 


o^ 


Preface. 

The  interest  which  at  the  present  moment 
centres  about  Pohir  ex})loration  is  perhaps 
broad  enough  to  permit  of  a  few  additional 
pages  being  added  to  the  lengthening  litera- 
ture of  the  subject,  even  though  they  be  want- 
ing in  a  recital  of  those  mishaps  and  hard- 
ships which  have  made  Arctic  reading  so 
fascinating.  In  this  belief  the  author  offers 
the  following  pages,  which  are  in  the  main  a 
record  of  personal  experiences  in  the  North, 
and  reflections  upon  the  best  metliod  of  attain- 
ing the  ol>ject  which  has  so  long  baffled  the 
energies  of  the  hardy  explorer.  A  portion  of 
the  work  has  already  appeared  in  narrative 
form  in  the  pages  of  Scribner's  Magazine,  and 
another  portion  is  an  amplification  of  an  ad- 
dress delivered  before  the  Geographical  Club 
of  Philadelphia. 

The  author  feels  that  the  record  of  the  Peary 
Relief  Expedition  would  not  be  complete 
without  a  reference  to  the  numerous  helping 
hands  which  made  the  expedition  possible, 
and  permitted  of  the  full  accomplishment  of 
its  mission; — to  all  these  he  owes  a  no  small 
debt  of  gratitude,  and  to  all,  without  distinc- 
tion by  name,  he  expresses  his  acknowledg- 
ments.    A  special   mention   should,  however, 


6304; 


Preface. 

be  made  of  the  names  of  a  few  gentlemen  who 
more  ])articularly  interested  themselves  in  the 
exj)edition,  and  gave  their  assistance  in  other 
directions  besides  the  one  very  necessary  one 
of  raising  the  required  funds  for  the  under- 
taking. These  are  Gavin  W.  Hart,  Esq.,  the  in- 
defatigable Treasurer  of  the  Expedition  Fund, 
and  Messrs.  Edward  Longstreth,  Joseph  T. 
Rothroek,  and  Edwin  J.  Houston,  through 
whose  efforts,  representing  the  good  work  of 
Philadelphia  and  West  Chester,  the  rude  chil- 
dren of  the  North  have  been  placed  in  a  condi- 
tion of  comparative  comfort.  The  distribution 
of  gifts  of  charity  to  the  Eskimo  was  a  feature 
of  the  expedition. 

To  the  members  of  his  party,  for  the  faithful 
accomplishment  of  their  duties,  and  the  good 
will  which  ever  prompted  their  work,  the 
leader  is  placed  under  special  obligation;  and 
he  is  similarly  indebted  to  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  good  ship  Kite,  the  vessel  of  the 
expedition. 

A.  H. 

Philadelphia,  May,  1893. 


Contents. 

I.     The  Arctic  Problem,  ....  Page  ^. 

I.    Polar  Expeditions, "28. 

ill.  The    Spitzbergen    Route   to 

the  Pole,    ■ "     ^3. 

IV.  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition,  "    79. 

V.  A  Lost  Companion,    ....  "    128. 

VI.  The  Greenland  ice-Cap  and 

its  Glaciers "114. 


"QjAIL  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee, 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears. 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears. 
Are  ail  with  thee,— are  all  with  thee!" 


The  Arctic  Problem. 

It  can  truly  be  said  that  to  no  class  of  work- 
ers does  a  community  owe  so  nmch  of  what  it 
possesses  as  to  that  of  the  travelling  geogra- 
pher or  explorer,  whose  cumulative  efforts  and 
resources  have  brought  the  world  to  know  it- 
self as  it  in  reality  exists.  This  j^ear  the  na- 
tions of  the  world  celebrate  the  greatest  dis- 
co veiy  of  modern  times, — the  greatest  in  the 
sense  tliat  it  most  deeply  touches  the  welfare 
of  the  human-kind.  Every  year,  almost,  brings 
with  it  the  culmination  of  an  effort  which, 
though  not  so  great  and  far-reaching  as  the 
Columbian,  yet  adds  materially  to  that  fund  of 
knowledge  from  whicli  Columbus  drew  his 
inspiration,  and  which  served  as  the  main- 
spring for  the  discovery  of  a  continent.  On 
sea  and  on  land,  from  alpine  summits  to  the 
waters  of  the  frozen  north,  the  march  of  dis- 
covery is  progressive,  and  it  will  forever  re- 
main progressive  and  unabated  until  the  sur- 
face of  our  globe  is  made  kiiown  to  us  in,  its 
rvcry  feature  and  under  every  phase  of  its  ex- 
istence. 

The  region  Avhich  to-day  again  most  at- 
Iracts  the  thouglds  of  gef)graplH'rs   lies  in  the 


()  Tin    Arctic  Problem. 

far  north.  Like  the  pulse  which  alternately  stills 
and  throbs  with  each  changing  phase  of  physi- 
cal depression  and  elevation,  the  Arctic  pendu- 
lum, held  and  swayed  by  every  record  of  dis- 
aster or  success,  vibrates  between  periods  of 
peaceful  slumber  and  restless  activity.  Al- 
most every  decade  of  the  present  century  has 
seen  the  ice-field  of  the  north  attract  to  it 
the  energies  of  men  who  have  worked  in  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  have  made  exploration 
brilliant;  every  equal  period,  almost,  has 
brought  with  it  its  chapter  of  disaster  and  ftiil- 
ure.  Not  daunted  by  the  opinion  of  those  who 
hold  that  man's  legitimate  field  of  labor  lies 
only  there  where  it  can  return  immediate  profit 
to  one's  ownself  or  to  tiie  community  at  large, 
the  wayfarer  to  the  Arctic  seas  plods  wearily 
onward,  slowly  but  steadily  closing  those  gaps 
of  knowledge  of  which  he  has  been  appointed 
the  trusted  guardian.  Without  him  the  world 
would  know  less  and  be  a  corresponding  suf- 
ferer in  its  lack  of  knowledge. 

The  brilliant  success  which  has  attended 
Mr.  Peary's  recent  traverse  of  the  Greenland 
ice-cap  opens  up  anew  the  question  of  the  ac- 
cessibility of  the  Pole,  and  the  discussion  of 
this  subject  is  specially  apropos  at  this  time  on 
the  eve  of  the  departure  of  two  expeditions 
wliose  destination  is  equally  the  North  Pole, 
and  of  a  third,  from  which,  while  not  in  quest 
of  the  Ultima  Thule  of  most  Arctic    ventures, 


f 

The  Arctic  Problem,.  7 

it  can  reasonably  be  expected  that  a  higher 
hititude  will  be  reached  than  has  ever  before 
been  attained.  The  first  expedition,  under 
command  of  Fridtjof  Nansen,  the  preparations 
for  which  have  now  nearly  been  completed, 
assumes  for  itself  the  route  of  the  north  Siber- 
ian waters  and  the  help  of  a  slow  and  steady 
drift  of  the  ice-pack  northward  from  the  Eur- 
asiatic  continent  to  and  across  the  Pole,  with  a 
return  to  the  Spitzbergen  or  Greenland  coast. 
In  other  words,  it  is  the  purpose  of  a  vessel, 
s})ecially  constructed  to  resist  the  pressure  of 
the  ice,  to  enter  the  ice-pack,  not  far  from  the 
spot  where  the  unfortunate  Jeanette  was 
crushed  in  1881,  and  allow  itself  to  be  drifted 
by  the  pack,  in  its  own  course,  and  free  from 
the  disturbing  influence  of  a  navigator,  for  a 
period  of  some  two  or  three  years.  The  as- 
sumption that  there  is  a  steady  currental  drift 
northward  from  the  Siberian  waters  is  based 
almost  entirely  upon  the  records  which  a  few 
pieces  of  clothing  and  other  relicts  have  car- 
ried with  them  of  the  ill-starred  expedition  of 
1879,  and  the  circumstance  that  drift-wood, 
supposed  to  come  from  Alaska,  is  annually 
thrown  upon  the  east  Greenland  coast.  The 
Jeanette  relicts,  to  which  reference  has  just 
been  made,  consisting  of  the  trousers  of  one  of 
the  sailors,  and  of  parts  of  the  ship's  papers, 
were  picked  up  on  the  ice  of  Julianehaab, 
southwest   Greenland,    on    June    18th,    1884, 


8  The  Arctic  Problem. 

eleven  hundred  days  after  that  unfortunate  dis- 
aster which  marks  one  of  the  saddest  chapters 
in  the  history  of  Arctic  exploration.  The  drift, 
whatever  its  course  may  have  been,  consumed 
three  full  years;  to  meet  the  possibilities  of  the 
same  period  and  of  a  needed  prolongation  of 
time,  Nansen  has  provisioned  himself  for  a 
period  of  five  years.  It  is  impossble  to  foretell 
the  fate  of  this  expedition ;  its  success  or  fail- 
ure will  depend  upon  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances and  conditions  which  cannot  even  be 
premised  in  our  present  knowledge  of  the 
northern  seas.  The  known  perseverance  and 
indomitable  pluck  of  the  leader  lend  hope  for 
the  enterprise,  if  not  absolute  assurance  of 
success. 

The  EkroU  Expedition,  which  is  expected 
to  leave  Cape  Mohn,  on  the  east  coast  of 
Spitzbergen,  early  in  June,  1893,  is  a  revival 
in  one  sense  of  the  expedition  of  Parry,  in  1827, 
when  the  very  high  latitude  of  82°  45'  was 
attained.  Its  special  feature  is  the  construc- 
tion of  a  "combination"  conveyance  to  be  used 
alternately  in  boat  and  sledge  service — /.  e.,  a 
boat  that  at  the  needed  time  might  be  resolved 
into  a  riumber  of  sledges.  The  virtual  point 
of  departure  of  this  expedition  is  Petermann's 
Land,  the  off-lying  island  situated  north  of 
Francis-Joseph  Land,  whence  a  direct  trav- 
erse is  contemplated  to  the  Pole,  with  a  return, 
if  possible,  by  way  of  Fort  Conger,  in  Lady 


The  Arctic  Problem.  9 

Franklin    Bay.      Supan    has   constructed    the 

following  table  of  distances  for  the  expedition: 

From  Cape  Mohn  to  Peterinann's  Land,  700  km. 

"     Petermami's  Laml  to  the  Pole,  .  830    " 

"     the  Pole  to  Fort  Conger,    .    .    .  950   " 


2480  km. 
or  approximately  1500  miles.     Two  hundred 
days  are  allowed  for   the  accomplishment  of 
this  journey. 

With  many,  probably,  the    Ekroll   Expedi- 
tion,   ingeniously  though  it  may  be  planned, 
will  not  fully  lend  itself  to  favor,  especially  in 
its   dominant   feature,    the   construction   of  a 
sectioned   boat  for  alternate  boat  and    sledge 
service.     The  interdependence  of  the  two  con- 
structions  measured  as  a  factor  of  safety  is  an 
element  of  insecurity,  or  at  least   uncertainty, 
in  the   enterprise    which   should  be  carefully 
weighed   and    considered    before    the   initial 
stages  in  an  undertaking  so  hazardous  as  the 
one  here  contemplated  are  taken.     One  may 
perhaps,  express  a  further  doubt  in  the  matter 
of  expediency;  the  constant  shifting  of  the  im- 
pedimenta   of    travel    is  a  condition     which 
should  be  avoided  so  far  as  is  possible  in  a 
journey,  the  execution  of  which  is  dependent 
almost   wholly   upon  a  reserve   strength    and 
that  adjustment  of  labor  and  rest  which  j)or- 
mits   of  the   greatest   amount  of  bodily   and 
mental    vigor  being   maintained.     The  main 


10  The  Arctic  Problem. 

work  of  any  Polar  expedition  slioiild  be  to  go 
ahead,  and  not  tlie  labor  of  adjustment  and 
rearrangement  looking  only  toward  the  ac- 
complislunent  of  this  end. 
•  Mr.  Peary's  new  expedition  contemplates 
the  further  exploration  of  the  north  and 
east  Greenland  coasts,  to  the  extent  of  survey- 
ing the  still  unknown,  or  at  best  conjectural, 
boundary  which  unites  Cape  Bismarck  on  the 
east  with  the  extreme  north  and  with  the 
"farthest"  of  Lockwood  and  Brainard  on  the 
northwest  (in  latitude  83°  24').  This  course 
involves  the  circumnavigation,  or  more  pro- 
perly— since  the  effort  will  doubtless  be  executed 
on  the  frozen  surface  of  the  sea — rounding  of 
the  Greenland  archipelago,  the  insular  masses 
lying  north  of  Independence  Bay  and  of  what 
appears  to  be  a  continuation  of  the  Victoria 
Inlet.  To  what  degree  of  northern  latitude 
this  course  of  exploration  may  take,  cannot  in 
the  nature  of  things  be  predicted ;  but  there 
are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  outlying  in- 
sular masses  extend  to  fully  the  85th  parallel, 
and  possibly  much  further.  Carried  out  on  the 
lines  of  the  exploration  of  the  past  year,  with 
the  inland  ice-cap  as  the  main  line  of  travel, 
there  are  good  grounds  for  hoping  for  an 
amount  of  success  equal  to  that  which  has  made 
the  year  1892  memorable  in  Arctic  service. 

No  doubt  the  eyes  of  the  world  will  follow 
with   interest   the  experiences  of  these   daring 


The  Arctic  Problem.  1 1 

navigators  of  the  north.  The  question  will, 
liowever,  certainly  be  asked  :  To  what  good? 
For  those  who  identify  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization with  a  search  after  truth,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  answer  this  question.  It  was 
fully  answered  a  half-century  ago  by  that  stern 
friend  of  knowledge,  Sir  John  Barrow,  when 
he  wrote ;  "The  North  Pole  is  the  only  tiling  in 
the  world  about  which  we  know  nothing; 
and  that  want  of  all  knowledge  ought  to  oper- 
ate as  a  spur  to  adopt  the  means  of  wiping 
away  that  stain  of  ignorance  from  this  en- 
lightened age."  Alexander,  after  he  had  con- 
quered the  world,  is  said  to  have  grieved  be- 
cause he  had  failed  to  accomplish  the  ambi- 
tion of  his  life, — the  discovery  of  the  sources 
of  the  Nile — a  legacy  which  was  bequeathed 
to  his  successors  through  a  period  of  2200 
years.  Whatever  protest  might  be  indulged 
in  to  prevent  further  Arctic  exploration,  what- 
ever specious  reasons  advanced  for  not  "further 
risking  the  lives  of  more  able  men,"  it  can  be 
accepted  as  a  certainty  that  until  the  region  of 
the  Pole  is  in  fact  traversed,  or  its  inaccessi- 
bility absolutely  demonstrated,  the  pendulum 
of  Arctic  exploration  will  continue  to  swing. 
The  search  after  knowledge  has  no  limits  and  it 
knows  no  time. 

It  is  customary  to  decry  Arctic  exploration 
on  the  sole  ground  that  it  endangers  the  lives 
of  worthy  people,  while  it  yields  little  of  bene- 


12  The  Arctic  Problem. 

fit  in  return.  This  is  the  narrow  view  of  that 
vast  body  of  opinionists  wlio  from  liabit  prefer 
to  say  much  to  thinking  little,  who  know  the 
world  from  their  own  knowledge,  rather  than 
from  the  knowledge  obtained  by  others.  The 
successful  man  is  in  their  eyes  a  hero,  the  un- 
fortunate one,  although  travelling  in  the  same 
field  of  lionest  labor  or  research,  scarcely  bet- 
ter than  an  imbecile.  The  exploits  of  a  Ross, 
a  Kane  or  a  Hayes  are  held  up  for  emulation — 
those  of  a  Franklin,  Hall,  or  DeLong  for  con- 
demnation. All  of  these  persons  strove  for  a 
common  purpose,  and  from  each  the  world 
has  derived  an  almost  equal  share  of  profit. 
Each  of  these  heroes  and  others  before  and 
after  them  have  contributed  to  that  special 
store  of  knowledge  which  conquers  assumed  im- 
possibilities— which  renders  practicable  much 
that  had  before  been  considered  impracticable. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  discern  the  practical  re- 
sults or  benefits  arising  from  Arctic  exploration. 
The  location  of  tlie  Magnetic  Pole  alone, 
rendering  possible  the  determination  of  the 
lines  of  variation  in  the  magnetic  needle,  is  in 
itself  a  conquest  for  which  navigators  will 
for  all  time  be  grateful,  and  from  which  the 
world  at  large  has  derived  inestimable  bene- 
fits. The  Arctic  whale  fishery  is  principally 
an  outcome  of  Arctic  exploration,  made  practi- 
cable and  profitable  through  that  more  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  physical  conditions  of 


The  Arctic  Problem.  13 

the  far  north  which  has  been  begotten  alike  of 
the  labors  of  success  and  disaster.  Every  ex- 
l)edition,  almost,  has  accomplished  something 
that  had  been  left  undone  by  its  predecessor 
and  been  considered  in  the  nature  of  things 
unattainable.  The  brilliant  exploits  of  Lock- 
wood  and  Brainard,  when  they  penetrated  to 
within  five  hundred  miles  of  the  Pole,  or  to 
Lat.  83°  24';  of  Nordenskjold,  the  discov- 
erer of  the  North-East  Passage;  and  of 
Nansen,  the  transgressor  of  Greenland's  sup- 
posed impassible  ice-fastnesses,  are  a  chapter 
in  the  history  of  the  present  decade.  Among 
its  pages,  too,  will  be  written  the  narrative  of 
that  remarkable  journey  which  has  only  re- 
cently been  accomplished  and  which  in  bold- 
ness of  execution  outranks  the  achievements 
of  all  previous  explorers  in  the  same  field. 

It  may,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  the 
exploits  to  which  reference  has  just  been  made 
are  of  insignificant  import;  that  Parry  as  early 
as  1827  had  reached  a  point  north  witliin 
forty-five  miles  of  that  attained  by  Lockwood 
and  Brainard ;  that  McClure,  despite  his  bril- 
liant forcing  of  the  North- West  Passage,  had 
yet  failed  to  render  commercially  navigable 
the  route  in  the  search  for  which  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  the  greater  part  of  his  force  gave 
up  their  lives.  Where  is  the  profit?  The 
contention  is  just,  or  better  true,  but  only  in 
so  far  as  the   simple   statement  of  fact  is  con- 


14  The  Arctic  Problem. 

cenied.     Parry's  farthest  north  bears  certainly 
the  mark  of  a  brilliant   achievement,    but   yet 
the  position  is  not  so  far  north  of  the  point 
where  Greely  and  his  party  spent  the  better 
part  of  three  years  as  to  disguise  the  real  ad- 
vance that  has  been  made  in  Arctic   explora- 
tion.     Hall,  Markham,    Aldrich,    and    Lock- 
wood  and   Brainard   have  all  passed  beyond 
Parry's  "farthest",  and  it  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  almost  every  expedition  advances  upon  its 
predecessor.      Again,    with    reference   to   the 
"barrenness"    of    the    North- West     Passage  : 
What  do  we  know  of  its  possibilities — only  the 
record  of  failures  ?     Mainly  so ;  but  is  the  ex- 
perience of  a  few  Arctic  ventures,  most  of  them 
badly  conducted  or  ill-arranged,  to  be  taken  as 
the  guiding  line  on  which    the    possibilities  of 
the  future  are  to  be  weighed?      Our  mental 
equipment  is  such  that  we  almost   invariably 
judge  of  possibilities  in  the    light  of  existing 
knowledge;  in  geographical  exploration,  as  in 
all    departments  of  mechanical    and    physical 
science,  however,  it  has  repeatedly  been  shown 
that  the  assumed  impossibilities  of  one  day  are 
ready  possibilities  of  another,  and  that    there 
are  no  fixed   limits  in   which   the  element  of 
success  can  be  determined.     The  heroic  achieve- 
ment of  Paccard,  who  in  1786    first  scaled  the 
then    seemingly    inaccessible    summit  of  the 
Mont  Blanc,  is  to-day  scarcely  remembered,  so 
laciie— -one  might  almost  say,  fashionable — has 


The  Arctic  Problem.  15 

become  the  route  along    which  the  first  breach 
was  effected.     Humboldt's  ascent  of  Chimbor- 
azo   added    lustre  to  the   researches  of  that  re- 
markable investigator,  but  to-day,  after  what 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  brothers  Schlag- 
intweit,  by  Graham  and  Conway  in  the  Hima- 
layas, by   Donkin  and  Frcshfield  in  the  Cau- 
casus, by  Meyer  on  Kilima  'Njaro,  by  Giissfeldt 
on  Aconcagua,  by  Reiss,  Wolff,  and  Whymper 
among  the  Equatorial    Andes,  and  by  Russell 
on    St.    Elias,    such    an    undertaking    would 
scarcely  pass  beyond  the  records  of  the  geogra- 
pher and  the  archives  of  geographical  societies. 
Neither  the  sands  nor  the  swamps,  or  even  the 
dark  and  gloomy    forests  of  the  deep  interior, 
can  any  longer  reasonably  be  counted  upon  to 
thwart  the    puri)Oses  of  the    African   traveler. 
Stanley's   remarkable   traverse  of  that   conti- 
nent on  w^hat  might  be  termed  schedule  time, 
and  Emin  Bey's  equally  remarkable  sojourn  of 
years  in  a  region  approach  to  which  had  for  a 
long  time  baffled  the   energies  of  men  of  most 
undoubted    courage,  are  an   evidence  of  direct 
evolution  of  possibility    from    knowledge   and 
experience.     Similarly,  in  the   far  north,  the 
dreaded    dangers  of  Melville  Bay  can   to-day, 
with  proper  judgment,  be  avoided  with  much 
the  certainty  that  the  dangers  of  the  fog-banks 
are    avoided   by    the    regular    trans-Atlantic 
liners. 

We  are  as  yet  too  ignorant  of  what  the  north 


16  The  Arctic  Problem. 

promises  to  permit  us  to  venture  upon  a  state- 
ment of  the  possibilities  which  it  offers  to  either 
commerce  or  science,  but  certain  it  is  that  its 
inaccessibility  is  becoming  more  and  more  re- 
mote every  year.  Albeit  the  North- West  Pass- 
age has  not  yet  proved  of  commercial  signifi- 
cance, who  can  predict  what  its  future  might 
not  be  ?  Equally  unpromising  has  seemed  the 
passage,  only  once  effected,  in  the  opposite 
direction,  but  the  explorations  of  Nordenskjold 
are  already  beginning  to  bear  fruit.  The 
successful  issue  of  this  journey  has  revived  the 
so-called  "  north  Siberian  trading  "  route,  and 
the  day  appears  not  far  distant  when  it  will  be 
freely  used  as  the  direct  means  of  commercial 
communication  between  the  north  of  Europe 
and  north-central  Asia.  The  successful  ven- 
tures of  Captain  J.  Wiggins  in  1888  and  1889, 
when  with  little  delay  he  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Yenissei  Kiver,  and  of  Peterson,  Cor- 
diner,  and  R.  Wiggins  in  1890,  seem  to  justify 
the  hopes  that  have  been  held  out  for  the  new 
route,  and  to  bring  promise,  at  least,  for  the 
"  Anglo-Siberian  Trading  Syndicate." 

There  are  two  phases  to  the  exploration  of 
the  region  of  the  far  north  :  that  which  touches 
exploration  only  in  the  broader  sense  of  a  con- 
tribution to  scientific  knowledge,  and  the  other 
which  has  for  its  first  and  ultimate  object  the 
attainment  of  the  position  of  the  North  Pole. 
It  has  been  contended  with  a  certain  amount 


The  Arctic  Problem.  17 

of  force  that  from  a  scientific  or  geographical 
stan(l})oiiit  the  Pole  offers  nothing  more  of  in- 
terest than  would  be  ofi'ered  by  any  other  un- 
known point  of  the  far  north,  and  that,  con- 
sequently, exploration  toward  it  should  treat 
the  Polar  question  merely  as  an  incident 
rather  than  as  an  object.  This  is  not  strictly 
the  case,  however ;  for  from  the  simple  fact 
that  the  Pole  has  thus  far  proved  inaccessible, 
the  question  of  "  why  this  inaccessibility  " — 
the  determination  of  the  conditions  which 
make  this  approach  seemingly  impossible — 
must  forever  be  of  special  scientific  moment,  and 
until  the  question  is  definitely  answered  by  a 
practical  demonstration,  or  once  and  forever 
removed  from  the  field  of  possible  answer,  it 
will  continue  to  attract  to  it  the  minds  of  the 
speculative  as  well  as  of  those  who  are  con- 
cerned only  with  an  immediate  result.  Arctic 
exploration,  in  the  Weyprechtian  sense  of  an 
exploration  for  the  attainment  of  scientific 
knowledge  pure  and  simple,  is  worthy  of  all 
the  effort  that  can  be  put  to  it ;  but  none  the 
less  worthy  is  an  exploration  which  lias  for  its 
main  object  the  resolution  of  a  problem  which 
has  attracted  man's  attention  for  upwards  of 
three  hundred  years,  and  thus  far  baffled  all 
his  ingenuity  and  advances.  It  might  almost 
be  said  with  Sir  Martin  Frobisher,  who  wrote 
toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  (or 
nearly  three  centuries  in  advance  of  the  actual 


18  The  Arctic  Problem,. 

discovery)  regarding:  the  North-West  passage : 
"It  is  the  only  thing  in  the  world  that  is  left 
yet  undone  whereby  a  notable  mind  might  be 
made  famous  and  fortunate." 

Two  questions  here  naturally  suggest  them- 
selves :  Is  the  Pole  in  fact  accessible,  and  if 
so,  how  and  by  what  route  is  it  to  be  attained? 
As  regards  the  first  question,  the  answer  can 
be  freely  hazarded  that  with  the  advances  in 
the  art  of  travel  that  have  latterly  been  made 
— and  it  is  needless  to  conceal  the  fact  that  to 
the  explorations  of  the  past  year  we  owe  more 
in  this  regard  than  to  any  preceding  explora- 
tion— its  conquest  will  be  assured  before  many 
years  have  passed.  As  to  the  route  to  be  fol- 
lowed, conjecture  has  broad  scope  and  an 
ample  field. 

With  two  exceptions — the  Austro-Hungarian 
Expedition  of  1872-74  and  the  Herald-Jeanette 
Expedition  of  1879 — all  the  more  notable 
efforts  made  within  recent  years  to  attain  the 
"  farthest  north  "  have  been  by  way  of  the 
west  Greenland  waters  i.  e.,  Baffin  Bay,  Smith 
Sound,  and  Kennedy  and  Robeson  Channels. 
The  Austro-Hungarian  Expedition  was  im- 
prisoned in  the  ice  of  Francis-Joseph  Land, 
while  the  -Jeanette  was  crushed  in  the  ice  of 
the  north  Siberian  waters.  The  two  Polar 
expeditions  that  are  maturing  their  plans  for 
work  in  the  present  year  will  follow  largely 
in  the  paths  of  the   Tegethoff  and   Jeanette. 


The  Arctic  Problem.  19 

The  estimation  of  the  possibilities  of  reaching 
the  Pole  can  only  be  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
[)ast  failures.  What  improvements  or  changes 
in  the  method  of  travelling  suggest  themselves 
so  as  to  convert  failure  into  success?  It  now 
seems  to  be  conclusively  proved  that  any  at- 
tem})t  to  sail  to  the  Pole  by  way  of  the  west 
Greenland  seas  must  be  doomed  to  failure;  the 
open  Polar  Sea,  which  has  so  largely  figured 
in  Arctic  ventures,  has  vanished — at  least  from 
the  American  hemisphere — and  in  its  place  is 
a  seemingly  interminable  barrier  of  ice,  the  ice 
of  the  so-called  Palseocrystic  Sea.  An  effort 
to  penerate  this  frozen  sea  in  the  direction  of 
the  Pole  was  made  by  Markham  in  1876,  with 
the  result  of  attaining  the  high  latitude  of  83° 
20'.  The  able  commander  of  the  sledge- 
journey  states:  "I  feel  it  impossible  for  any 
pen  to  depict  with  accuracy,  and  yet  be  not 
accused  of  exaggeration,  the  numerous  draw- 
backs that  impeded  our  progress.  One  point, 
however,  in  my  opinion  is  most  definitely  set- 
tled, and  that  is,  the  utter  impracticability  of 
reaching  the  North  Pole  over  the  floe  in  this 
locality ;  and  in  this  opinion  my  able  colleague, 
Lieutenant  Parr,  entirely  concurs.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  with  the  very  lightest  equipped 
sledges,  carrying  no  boats,  and  with  all  the 
resources  of  the  ship  concentrated  in  the  one 
direction,  and  also  supposing  that  perfect 
health  might  be  maintained,  the  latitude  at- 


20  Tlie  Arctic  Problem. 

tained  by  tlie  party  I  liad  tlie  lionor  and  pleas- 
ure of  comiiuiiiding  would  not  be  exceeded  by 
many  miles,  certainly  not  by  a  degree." 

While  one  cannot  but  admire  tlie  courage  of 
this  statement,  emanating  as  it  does  from  one 
of  the  most  tried  of  Arctic  explorers,  it  can 
nevertheless  scarcely  be  considered  to  have 
])roved  its  case.  There  is  as  yet  nothing  to  prove 
that  the  condition  of  impassability  of  the  Pal- 
ieocrystic  ice  is  the  same  year  for  year;  the  ob- 
servations of  one  season  are  not  sufficient  to 
demonstrate  this,  as  the  experiences  of  Lock- 
wood  and  Brainard  in  the  spring  of  1883 
clearly  prove.  These  intrepid  explorers  in 
their  second  effort  to  reach  the  farthest  north 
found  the  Polar  pack  disrupted  and  moving 
already  in  the  early  days  of  April,  and  at  a 
point  not  much  beyond  the  82d  parallel.  The 
conditions  of  the  previous  year  had  been  en- 
tirely reversed.  And  if  the  conditions  of  tlie  ice 
change,  do  not  also  the  possibilities  of  travel  ? 
Again,  the  extraordinarily  rapid  sledge  journey 
of  Lockwood  and  J3rainard  in  1882,  when  they 
attained  the  most  northerly  point  ever  reached 
by  man,  83°  24',  clearly  points  out  a  line  of 
possibility  which  was  certainly  not  ap})reciated 
by  the  officers  of  the  British  expedition.  Who 
can  tell  how  far  Lockwood  and  Brainard  might 
not  have  penetrated  had  they  been  furnished 
with  supplemental  time  and  that  form  of  ex- 
perience, including  its  resources,  of  which  Mr. 


IN  THC  WAiGAT. 


Tlie  Arctic  Problcvi.  21 

Peary  took  such  good  lulvantagc?  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  they  might  luive  travelled 
200  miles  or  more  further,  and  possibly  even 
reached  the  Pole  in  an  early  and  favorable 
season.  From  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Greely  Expedition,  the  distance 
north  to  the  Pole  is  less  than  six  hundred 
miles ;  at  the  average  rate  of  progress  made  by 
Lockwood  and  Brainard  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
two  days,  from  Cape  Bryant  to  Lockwood 
Island  and  return,  a  direct  traverse  to  the  point 
of  the  earth's  axis  would  be  made  in  forty 
days;  or  allowing  twenty-five  per  cent  for  de- 
flection from  a  due  north  and  south  traverse, 
in  fifty  days.  Payer,  in  his  second  sledge 
journey  in  April  1874,  accomplished  the  re- 
turn of  313  miles  (latitudinal  distance)  in  thirty 
days,  under  the  most  exhaustive  conditions 
of  hummocky  and  mountainous  ice,  drift  snow, 
an  unnecessarily  heavily  laden  sledge,  and 
with  a  temperature  descending  to — 22°  F. 
The  late  Greenland  expedition  traversed  1300 
odometric  miles  in  ninty-six  days,  or  an  aver- 
age, including  all  stoppages,  of  thirteen  and  a 
half  miles  per  day.  But  in  reality  the  greater 
part  of  the  return  journey  was  made  at  the 
astonishingly  rapid  rate  of  20 — 25  miles,  and 
some  of  it  at  thirty   miles  a  day. 

It  is  true  that  the  special  conditions  which 
favor  travelling  on  the  Greenland  snows  are 
not  to  be  met  with  on  the  rough  surface  of  the 


22  The  Arctic  Problem. 

frozen  sea,  but  even  with  this  difference,   and 
recognizing  as  permanent  the  conditions  which 
Markham   emphasizes,    there   seems  to  be  no 
good    reason   why,    with  a  properly   adjusted 
equipment,    the    Pole    might  not  be  reached. 
In  all  the  sledge  expeditions  thus  far,  with  the 
exception  of  Mr.  Peary's,  progression  has  been 
very  largely  effected  on  the  principle  of  "doub- 
ling up" — i.  e.,  drawing   the  load  in  sections, 
and  thus  retraversing   the   same   ground  two, 
three  or  even  five  times  over.     The  unnecessa- 
rily heavy  equipment  necessitated  this  method 
of    advance.      Lockwood's   sledge,    drawn   by 
eight   dogs,    and  equipped  with    the    impedi- 
menta   for   three   men   for   twenty-five    days, 
weighed    783^  lbs.  ;  Payer's   sledge,  equipped 
for  seven  men  and  three  dogs  for  twenty-eight 
days,    weighed    1565  lbs.;  Parry's  memorable 
sledge  journey    north  of  Spitzbergen,  in  1827, 
was  made  with  two  equipments  of  3800   lbs. 
each,  the   provisioning  being   for  seventy-one 
days  serving  twenty-eight  men ;  the  load  calcu- 
lated for  each  man  was  270  lbs.     Mr.  Peary's 
equipment,  on  the  other  hand,  on  leaving  the 
Humboldt  Glacier,  or  seventy-seven  days  be- 
fore   the  close  of  the  journey,    weighed   only 
1500  lbs.,  which  was   distributed   exclusively 
among  the  dogs   pressed  in  for  service.     With 
this  comparatively    light    load  the   travel  was 
made  direct  and  without  doubling. 

The  traverse  to  the  Pole — barring  a  possible 


The  Arctic  Pmhlem.  23 

direct  passage  through  the  "pack  sea"  hy  a  pow- 
erful steamer — owing  to  ice-driftages  and  water 
holes,  can  seemingly  he  made  only  hy  a  com- 
hination  of  hoat  and  sledge  journey,  and  that 
it  can  so  he  accomplished  with  the  use  of  a  light 
equijnnent,  admits  of  little  or  no  douht.  Parry's 
remarkahle  journey  of  18'27  is  almost  conclu- 
sive evidence  on  this  point.  This  most  cau- 
tious and  circumspect  navigator,  in  his  mem- 
orahle  journey  northward  of  twenty-nine  days, 
accomplished  292  geographical  miles,  largely 
over  soft  and  floating  ice ;  or,  with  the  journey 
repeated,  as  it  had  to  he,  three  and  not  unfre- 
quently  five  times  over,  the  actual  space  cov- 
ered was,  as  stated  by  Parry  himself,  approxi- 
mately GG8  statute  miles,  "being  nearly  sulli- 
cient  to  have  reached  the  Pole  in  a  direct 
line."  It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  Arctic  ex- 
ploration that  the  route  which  Parry  broke 
into  has  never  since  been  followed.  The 
thoroughness  with  which  his  expedition  had 
been  conducted  and  its  failure  to  reach  the 
point  desired,  seem  to  have  been  sufficient  to 
condemn  the  route  for  all  time.  However 
wise  or  unwise  the  abandonment  of  the  Parry 
route  may  have  originally  been,  it  is  all  but 
certain  that  with  the  Arctic  experience  that 
has  been  acquired  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  and  with  such  special  facilities  for  trav- 
elling as  have  become  incorporated  in  the  "art" 
during  the  same  period,  the  route  in  question 


188437 


24  The  Arctic  Problem. 

could  be  advantageously  followed  to-day.  In- 
deed, Parry  himself,  commenting  upon  his  own 
failure  eighteen  3'cars  after  the  event,  gives  it 
as  his  opinion  that  the  object  is  "of  no  very 
difficult  attainment,  if  set  about  in  a  different 
manner."  He  believed  that  starting  from  the 
north  of  Spitzbergen  in  the  month  of  April, 
"  when  the  ice  would  present  one  hard  and 
unbroken  surface"  "it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
make  good  thirty  miles  per  day  without  any 
exposure  to  wet,  and  probably  without  snow 
blindness." 

The  advantages  which  a  condensed  food 
supply,  proper  body-covering,  and  light  con- 
structions carry  with  them — advantages  un- 
known to  the  early  Arctic  explorers — are  a 
factor  in  the  calculation  which  tends  wholly 
to  the  side  of  success. 

If  it  be  asked  why  Parry  failed  to  reach  a 
higher  point  than  he  did,  the  answer  is  im- 
mediately found  in  his  narrative :  the  southerly 
drift  of  the  ice  annihilated  the  actual  northing 
made.  But  it  is  manifest  that  with  the  ice  in 
a  condition  of  stability,  as  it  probably  largely 
is  at  an  earlier  season,  and  with  the  equipment 
so  adjusted  as  to  obviate  the  necessity  of 
"doubling"  over  the  line  of  traverse,  a  much 
greater  daily  advance  could  be  made  than 
Parry  found  possible,  and  one  that  would 
three  or  four  times  cover  the  four-mile  drift  of 
the  ice.     With  a  daily  advantage  of  only  eight 


The  Arctic  Problem.  25 

miles  the  Pole  would  be  reached  from  the  82d 
l)arallel  in  sixty  days;  while  on  the  other 
hand,  the  return  journey  with  the  di-ift  would 
probably  not  occupy  much  more  than  half  that 
period  of  time.. 

A  further  question  suggests  itself  in  con- 
nection with  the  Arctic  problem :  Has  the 
Pole  ever  been  more  nearly  accessible  than  it 
is  at  the  present  time?  Without  entering  into 
a  discussion  of  the  geological  problem  or  to  a 
consideration  of  remote  periods  of  time,  it  can 
be  said  that  we  are  in  possession  of  a  certain 
amount  of  evidence  which  goes  far  toward 
giving  an  affirmative  to  the  question.  We 
owe  chiefly  to  the  Honorable  Daines  Barring- 
ton,  that  indefatigable  advocate  of  Polar  ex- 
peditions of  the  last  century,  the  collection  of 
data  bearing  upon  this  point.  From  these 
it  would  appear  that  a  century  or  more 
ago  voyages  to  the  far  north  were  not  an  ex- 
ceptional circumstance — indeed,  that  the  lati- 
tudes attained  on  these  voyages  were  in  some 
instances  beyond  what  it  has  been  possible  to 
attain  since.  Thus,  it  is  asserted  that  Capt. 
Mac  Callam,  in  command  of  the  Campbeltown, 
one  of  the  ships  emjdoyed  in  the  Greenland 
Fishery,  in  1751  penetrated  to  83°  30'  in  a 
perfectly  open  sea,  with  no  ice  visible  to  the 
northward.  In  1754  three  whalers  are  re- 
ported to  have  passed  beyond  the  82d  par- 
allel (to  82°  15',  83°  and  84°  30');  the  circum- 


26  The  Arctic  Problem. 

stances  connected  with  the  voyage  of  Mr. 
Stephens,  when  the  latitude  of  84°  30'  is  said 
to  have  been  attained,  are  reported  by  the  As- 
tronomer Roj-al  of  the  time,  Mr.  Maskelyne, 
and  are  so  circumstantially  stated  that  they 
would  seem  to  allow  little  room  for  doubt  in 
the  manner.  But  little  ice  was  seen  or  met 
with  beyond  Hakluyt  Headland.  The  same  con- 
dition was  reported  in  1766  by  Capt.  Robinson, 
who  claims  in  that  year  to  have  reached  82° 
30' ;  and  in  the  same  year,  along  the  same 
course,  Master  Wheatley  reported  no  ice  in  any 
direction  visible  from  the  mast-head  of  his 
vessel  in  Lat.  81°  30'. 

Unfortunately,  the  evidence  that  is  presented 
is  not  of  that  kind  which  permits  it  to  be  ac- 
cepted without  reservation,  but  the  coincidence 
as  to  3^ears  of  easy  passage — 1754,  1766,  1770 
— and  of  a  generally  facile  period  about  that 
time  is  certainly  suggestive  of  an  amount  of 
truth-color.  It  is  evidence  of  a  kind  that 
cannot  be  brushed  aside  merely  because  it  con- 
flicts with  notions  formed  on  more  modern  ex- 
periences, or  because  it  emanates  from  the  non- 
erudite  whaler.  The  popular  notion  of  a 
change  in  the  winter  climate  of  the  eastern 
United  States,  with  a  suggested  explanation 
that  it  might  be  due  to  a  transference  nearer 
to  the  coast  of  some  of  the  heated  waters  of  the 
Gulf  Stream — a  notion  ridiculed  in  many 
quarters  of  the  scientific  world — seems  to  have 


The  Arctic  Problem.  27 

received  a  nearly  full  vindication  through  the 
recent  investigations  of  Prof.  Libbey.  That  in 
1817,  and  again  in  1818,  the  greater  part  of  the 
ice-mass  which  as  a  rule,  year  in  and  year  out, 
almost  impassably  bounds  the  northeast  coast 
of  Greenland,  suddenly  disappeared,  is  proved 
by  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  the  younger 
Scoresby  ;  at  that  time  a  largely  unencumbered 
sea  seems  to  have  extended  along  the  coast  very 
nearly  to,  if  not  beyond,  the  80th  parallel.  This 
circumstance  makes  it  probable  that  more  truth 
is  contained  in  the  statements  of  the  old  whalers 
than  has  been  commonly  allowed.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  from  Parry's  own  narrative  that 
at  the  time  of  his  expedition  a  staunch  steam- 
vessel,  such  as  is  now  used  for  purposes  of  this 
kind,  could  have  forced  a  passage  much  to  the 
northward  of  the  farthest  point  reached  by 
him,  or  far  beyond  the  most  northern  point 
which  has  ever  been  reached  by  a  vessel, 
whether  steamer  or  sailer. 


II. 

Polar  Expeditions. 

The  first  attempt,  of  which  we  have  record, 
to  reach  the  Pole  seems  to  have  been  made  in 
1527.  In  that  year,  at  any  rate,  according  to 
the  Chronicles  of  Hall  and  Grafton  (as  quoted 
by  Hakluyt),  King  Henry  VIII,  actuated  by 
"very  weighty  and  substantial  reasons  to  set 
forth  a  discoverie  even  to  the  North  Pole," 
"sent  two  ftiire  ships  well  manned  and  victual- 
led, having  in  them  divers  cunning  men  to  seek 
strange  regions,  and  so  they  set  forth  out  of 
the  Thames  the  20th  day  of  May,  in  the  19th 
yeere  of  his  raigne,  which  was  the  j'ear  of  our 
Lord  1527."  Little  is  known  of  this  expedi- 
tion beyond  the  fact  that  one  of  the  vessels, 
whether  the  Dominus  Vobiscum  or  not,  was 
lost  in  the  waters  north  of  Newfoundland, 
and  that  the  other  returned  home  about  tlie 
beginning  of  October.  A  Canon  of  St.  Paul's, 
in  London,  reputed  to  be  a  great  mathemati- 
cian and  a  wealthy  man,  was  one  of  the  party 
on  the  Dominus  Vobiscum. 

In  1596,  in  an  attempt  to  make  the  trans- 
Polar  passage  from  Amsterdam  to  China, 
William  Barentz,  Jacob  \''an  Heemskerke,  and 
Cornelis  Ryp  reached   Lat.  80°  11'  (on  June 


Polar  Expeditions.  29 

19th),  off  what  is  with  little  doubt  Amsterdam 
Island,  Spitzbergen.  It  is  not  known  whether 
further  progress  northward  was  absolutely 
prevented  by  an  impassable  barrier  of  ice  or 
not.  Failing  to  make  the  passage  on  the 
route  selected  Barentz,  with  one  of  the  vessels, 
sailed  eastward  for  the  Waigatsch,  hoping  to 
be  more  successful  on  a  lower  parallel.  In 
this  hope,  however,  he  was  disappointed ;  his 
vessel  was  hemmed  in  by  the  Nova  Zembla 
ice,  and  there  abandoned  to  its  fate.  The 
fortunes  of  the  expedition  were  then  thrown 
into  the  two  open  boats.  Passing  a  winter  of 
unusual  hardship,  the  party  on  the  13th  of 
June  following  (1598),  began  that  memorable 
retreat  homeward  which  may  be  considered  to 
be  pioneer  among  similar  Arctic  mishaps — 
a  monument  to  the  "worthy  stuff"  out  of 
which  a  ship's  crew  was  made  three  hundred 
years  ago.  Barentz  and  one  of  his  associates, 
Claes  Adrianson,  died  a  few  days  after  the  de- 
parture, but  the  remainder  of  the  party  suc- 
cessfully pulled  through  to  Kola,  where  they 
were  rescued  by  Cornells  Ryp.  Barrow  well 
says  (1818) :  "  There  are  numerous  instances  on 
record  of  extraordinary  voyages  being  per- 
formed in  rough  and  tempestuous  seas  in  open 
boats,  with  the  most  scanty  supply  of  provis- 
ions and  water,  but  there  is  probably  not  one 
instance,  that  can  be  compared  to  that  in 
question,  where  fifteen   persons,  in  two   open 


30  The  Arctic  Problem. 

boats,  had  to  pass  over  a  frozen  ocean  more 
than  eleven  hundred  miles,  '  in  the  ice,  over 
the  ice,  and  through  the  sea,'  exposed  to  all 
the  dangers  of  being  at  one  time  overwhelmed 
by  the  waves,  at  another  of  being  crushed  to 
atoms  by  the  whirling  of  large  masses  of  ice, 
and  to  the  constant  attack  of  ferocious  bears, 
enduring  for  upwards  of  forty  days  severe 
cold,  fatigue,  famine,  and  disease."  The  most 
noteworthy  outcome  of  Barentz's  expedition 
was  the  discovery  af  Spitzbergen. 

The  distinguished  navigator  Henry  Hud- 
son, in  an  attempt  to  make  the  trans-Polar 
passage  in  1607,  reached  the  very  high  lati- 
tude of  80°  23'.  It  is  not  known  at  precisely 
what  point  this  position  was  attained  and  it  is 
difficult  to  correlate  the  observations  made  with 
our  present  geographical  knowledge  of  the  re- 
gion (the  Greenland-Spitzbergen  Sea).  Hud- 
son himself  states  that  land  was  visible  south- 
ward, and  that  it  extended  in  the  opposite 
direction  "farre  into  82  degrees."  Barrow  re- 
marks in  this  connection  that  this  statement 
must  be  erroneous,  or  that  Hudson  stood  over 
so  far  to  the  westward  as  to  again  bring  him 
into  proximity  with  the  Greenland  coast 
("Chronological  History  of  Voyages  into  the 
Arctic  Regions,"  p.  182).  This  conclusion  was 
reached  from  the  supposition  that  Greenland 
was  the  only  land-mass  in  the  region  under 
consideration  which  extended  to  or  beyond  the 


o 


Polar  Expeditions.  31 

81st  parallel;  the  since-discovered  Francis- 
Joseph  Land,  however,  makes  it  possible  that 
Hudson's  course  was  northeastward,  rather 
than  northwestward,  and  that  the  land  re- 
ported to  have  been  seen  was  in  fact  the  dis- 
jointed tract  which  was  reached  by  Payer  and 
Weyprecht  in  1873.  Two  considei^tions  seem 
to  sustain  this  view:  first,  the  more  ready  ac- 
cessibility of  the  coast  of  Francis-Joseph  Land, 
so  far  as  an  unencumbered  sea  is  concerned,  and 
secondly,  its  own  comparative  proximity.  One 
day's  sail  from  the  northern  extremity  of 
Spitzbergen  would  almost  bring  the  mountain 
masses  of  Francis-Joseph  Land  into  promi- 
nence, "trending,"  as  stated  by  Hudson,  "north 
in  our  sight."  On  the  other  hand,  a  voyage 
of  four  hundred  miles  westward  would  be  ne- 
cessitated before  any  part  of  the  Greenland 
coast  lying  north  of  the  80th  parallel  could  be 
brought  into  view;  again,  this  portion  of  the 
Greenland-Spitzbergen  Sea  has  generally  been 
found  to  be  impassable  by  reason  of  the  heavy 
accumulation  of  drift  ice.  No  landing  on  the 
Greenland  east  coast  has  thus  far  been  found 
possible  north  of  Cape  Bismarck  (77°  1'),  the 
position  reached  by  Koldewey  in  1870,  yet 
Hudson  narrates  that  (in  80°  23')  his  men 
were  successful  in  making  a  landing,  that 
"they  found  it  hot  on  shoore,  and  drunke 
water  to  coole  their  thirst,  which  they  also 
commended."     It  is  possible  that  the   summer 


32  The  Arctic  Problem. 

season  of  1607  was  an  open  one,  just  as  Scoresby 
found  it  in  1817,  and  that  tlie  Greenland  ice 
had  disappeared  even  from  the  region  of  the 
80th  parallel ;  in  that  case  Hudson  may  have 
approached  to,  or  even  landed  on,  the  Green- 
land coast,  and  indeed,  a  suspicion  of  this  con- 
dition is  found  in  a  (subsequent)  passage  which 
refers  to  "neerenesse  toGroneland,"  andin  his 
desire  to  "retume  by  the  north  of  Groneland 
to  Davis  his  Streights,  and  so  for  England." 

If,  as  is  claimed,  land  was  visible  far 
to  the  northward  of  the  82d  parallel,  then, 
manifestly,  Hudson  must  have  penetrated 
considerably  beyond  80°  23',  as  it  is  wholly 
unlikely  that  he  saw  any  land  at  a  greater 
distance  than  80  or  100  statute  miles;  at  any 
rate,  this  could  not  have  been  on  the  Green- 
land side,  where,  as  we  now  know,  the  coast 
beyond  the  80th  parallel  trends  rapidly  west- 
ward. A  mountain  4,000  feet  in  elevation, 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  can  be 
seen  from  the  sea-level  from  an  extreme  dis- 
tance of  only  eighty  miles;  and  from  a  mast- 
head one  hundred  feet  in  height,  about 
twelve  miles  further. 

Another  effort  in  the  direction  of  the  Pole 
was  made  by  a  certain  Jonas  Poole,  master  of 
the  shipAmitie,  in  1610,  but  the  farthest  lati- 
tude reached  (off  Spitzbergen)  was  79°  50'. 
The  commission  of  this  voyage,  undertaken 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Muscovy  Company, 


Polar  Erpeditions.  33 

recites:  'Inasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased 
Almightie  God,  through  the  industry  of  your- 
selfe  and  others,  to  discover  unto  our  nation  a 
land  lying  ineightie  degrees  toward  the  North 
Pole:  We  are  desirous,  not  only  to  discover 
farther  to  the  northward,  along  the  said  land, 
to  find  whether  the  same  be  an  island  or  a 
ma^Tie,  and  which  way  the  same  doth  trend, 
either  to  the  eastward  or  to  the  westward  of 
the  pole;  as  also  whether  the  same  be  in- 
habited by  any  people,  or  whether  there  be 
an  open  sea  farther  northward  than  hath  been 

already  discovered " 

The  same  Jonas  Poole  seems  to  have  attained 
to  about  the  80th  parallel  in  the  following 
year,  while  Robert  Fotherby,  three  years  later, 
reached  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Spitz- 
Vjergen,  in  Lat.  80°  16'.  Between  this  period 
and  1773,  when  Captain  Constantine  John 
Phipps  (afterwards  Lord  Mulgrave)  was  en- 
trusted with  the  command  of  an  expedition  to 
determine  the  limits  of  navigation  north- 
ward, there  seems  to  have  been  no  '"officiar'  or 
organized  effort  to  attain  any  very  high  lati- 
tude. It  is  true  that  in  the  instructions  given 
to  Baffin  and  Bylot  to  guide  the  expedition  of 
1616  in  search  of  a  North- West  Passage  we 
find  the  following:  'For  your  course  you 
must  make  all  pKDssible  haste  to  the  Cape 
Desolation;  and  from  thence  you,  William 
Baffin  as  pilot,  keepj  along  the  coast  of  Green- 


34  The  Arctic  Problem. 

land  and  up  Fretum  Davis,  until  you  come 
toward  the  height  of  eighty  degrees,  if  the 
land  will  give  you  leave;"  but  this  northern 
diversion  seems  to  have  been  in  no  way  asso- 
ciated with  the  thought  of  an  actual  northerly 
passage,  since  the  instructions  further  recite 
that  the  voyage  is  thence  to  be  conducted 
westward  and  southward,  with  a  fall  to  the 
60th  parallel.  The  exact  position  of  Baffin's 
"farthest  north"  is  not  known,  but  it  was 
doubtless  beyond  the  78th  parallel,  probably 
just  within  the  Kane  Basin.  Phipps  reached 
positions  due  north  of  Spitzbergen  of  80°  34', 
80°  37',  and  80°  48'  (July  27th),  at  which 
points  the  great  ice-barrier  trending  in  an 
almost  due  east-and-west  line  prevented  further 
penetration  northward. 

The  failure  to  reach  a  more  northerly  point 
is  significant,  since  it  is  alleged  that  in  the 
same  year  Captain  Clarke  sailed  to  81°  30'  and 
Captain  Bateson  to  82°  15'.  Scoresby,  who 
seems  inclined  to  distrust  the  accounts  of  these 
whalers,  thus  forcibly  expresses  himself  in 
this  connection:  "Now  this  was  the  year  in 
which  Captain  Phipps  proceeded  on  discovery, 
towards  the  North  Pole,  who,  notwithstanding 
he  made  apparently  every  exertion,  and  ex- 
posed his  ships  in  no  common  degree;  though 
he  repeatedly  traced  the  face  of  the  northern 
ice  from  the  longitude  of  2°  E.,  where  the  ice 
began  to  trend  to  the   southward,  to  20°  E., 


Polar  Expeditions.  35 

where  he  was  so  dangerously  involved,  was 
never  able  to  proceed  beyond  80°  48'  N.,  and 
even  that  length  once  in  the  season,  'is  it 
reasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  whale- 
fishers,  sailing  in  clear  water,  without  any 
particular  object  to  induce  them  to  proceed  far 
towards  the  north,  should  exceed  the  length 
to  which  Captain  Phipps  attained  in  the  same 
year,  and  within  a  few  days  of  the  same  time, 
by  eighty-seven  miles  towards  the  north?  I 
imagine,  on  the  contrary,  that  both  Captain 
Clarke  and  Captain  Bateson  had  been  mistaken 
m  their  latitude,  and  had  not  been  so  far  as 
Captain  Phipps,  or  at  least  not  farther." 

Scoresby's  objections  are  well  taken,  yet  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  northern  ice  frequently 
breaks,  and  as  rapidly  closes  over,  as  I  have 
myself  had  occasion  to  observe  during  two 
seasons,  makes  it  not  exactly  impossible  that 
with  the  difference  in  time  of  a  few  days  the 
whalers  may  have  been  actually  successful 
where  Phipps  was  not ;  again,  the  recklessness 
—a  characteristic  which,  at  least  to-day,  marks 
that  class  of  people— of  the  whalers  might 
have  impelled  to  a  course  which  would  not 
have  been  considered  expedient  to  an  officer  of 
trained  responsibility,  such  as  Phipps.  It  is 
well  known  that  in  the  west  Greenland  waters, 
in  Melville  Bay,  the  whalers,  in  their  anxiety 
to  be  first  on  the  American  whaling  "ground," 
regularly  subject  their  vessels  to  the  chances  of 


36  The  Arctic  Problem. 

crushing  by  forcing  ("butting")  a  passage 
through  the  ice,  rather  than  wait  for  it  to  dis- 
appear in  its  normal  course.  In  this  way  the 
traverse  is  frequently  made  in  the  early  days 
of  June — sometimes  still  earlier — when  the  sea 
is  seemingly  still  one  impassable  ice-pan, 
whereas  the  so-called  "open  passage"  is 
usually  not  made  before  the  middle  or  last 
week  of  July.  In  our  traverse  of  the  Bay  in 
1891,  under  the  guidance  of  an  experienced, 
but  perhaps  too  cautious,  ice-master,  we  were 
detained  in  the  ice  until  the  23rd  of  July — 
becoming  imprisoned  on  the  2d;  yet  in  the 
following  year.  Captain  Phillips,  of  the  whaler 
"Esquimaux,"  who  kindly  offered  to  apprise 
Mr.  Peary  in  advance  of  the  coming  of  a  relief 
expedition,  had  already  as  early  as  the  13th 
of  June  succeeded  in  planting  my  message  on 
Wolstenholme  Island,  fully  fifty  miles  beyond 
the  gates  of  Cape  York. 

It  is  not  then  unreasonable  to  assume  that 
the  hardy  and  venturesome  whaler  will  fre- 
quently penetrate  where  the  dictates  of  caution 
would  restrain  the  disciplinarian,  or  man  of 
more  impressed  responsibility  ;  therefore,  due 
weight  must  be  given  to  this  consideration 
in  judging  of  the  possible  accomplishments  of 
the  two  classes  of  navigators.  That  a  much 
further  northing  than  Phipps's  had  already 
been  made  some  time  before  the  voyage  of  that 
navigator  is    almost  indisputably  proved    by 


Polar  Expedilions.  37 

the  Dutch  charts  of  1707,  which  place  a 
"Gilles'  Land"  on  the  82d  parallel,  and  in  a 
position  which,  in  its  relations  to  the  trend  of 
Zichy  Land  (Francis-Joseph  Land),  make  it 
all  but  certain  that  land  had  in  fact  been  dis- 
covered at  that  time. 

In  order  to  encourage  exploration  in  the  far 
north  the  English  Parliament  in  1776,  by 
special  enactment  (IGth  Geo.  III.,  chap.  G), 
offered  a  reward  of  £5,000  to  the  owner  of  any 
merchant  vessel  or  to  the  commander  of  any 
King's  vessel  who  should  first  penetrate  to 
within  one  degree  of  the  Pole,  a  fitting  supple- 
ment to  the  act  of  1743  (16th  Geo.  II.,  chap. 
17)  which  conferred  an  award  of  £20,000  for 
the  discovery  of  the  North-West  Passage. 
Despite  this  encouragement,  no  further  eff'ort 
— at  least,  none  of  a  determined  nature — to 
penetrate  into  the  far  north  was  made  until 
1818,  when  John  Ross  and  W.  E.  Parry, 
respectively  in  command  of  the  Isabella  and 
Alexander,  were  commissioned  by  the  British 
Government  to  make  further  search  after  a 
North-West  Passage,  and  David  Buchan  and 
John  Franklin,  in  command  of  the  Dorothea 
and  Trent,  to  attempt  the  Polar  passage  by  way 
of  the  Greenland-Spitzbergen  Sea.  In  the 
same  year  the  act  of  1776  relative  to  the  award 
of  £5,000  was  modified  into  one  of  proportional 
awards  (Act  58th  Geo.  III.,  chap.  20),  which, 
by  a  subsequent  commission,  was  adjusted  as 


38  The  Arctic  Problem. 

follo-\vs  :  "To  the  first  ship,  as  aforesaid  [belong- 
ing to  any  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  or  to  his 
Majesty],  that  shall  sail  to  83°  of  north  lati- 
tude, il,000;  to  85°,  £2,000;  to  87°,  £3,000; 
to  88°,  £4,000 ;  and  to  89°,  as  before  allotted, 
the  full  reward  of  £5,000."  * 

Both  expeditions  of  1818,  so  far  as  the  main 
objects  to  be  obtained  were  concerned,  were  un- 
successful. Buchan's  and  Franklin's  farthest 
north,  off  Spitzbergen,  was  80°  34'  (July); 
although  seemingly  beyond  the  main  body  of 
the  ice,  the  rapidly  southward-sweeping  cur- 
rent prevented  nearer  approach  to  the  Pole. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance,  as  bearing 
upon  the  accomplishments  of  whalers  and  the 
official  heads  of  expeditions,  that  the  farthest 
north  that  had  thus  far  been  attained,  or  to 
which,  at  least,  absolute  credence  can  be  given, 
was  the  northing  of  the  two  Scoresbys,  who, 
while  on  a  whaling  voyage,  on  May  24th, 
1806,  reached  the  very  high  latitude  (carefully 
estimated,  and  based  upon  an  observation  of 
the  day  before,  viz.:  81°  12'  42")  of  81°  30'. 
This  was  on  Long.  19°  E.  of  Greenwich,  on 
the  border  of  the  great  northern  ice-pack, 
whose  front  had  been  followed  from  the  W.  S. 
W.  over  an  extent  of  27  degrees  of  longitude 
The  younger  Scoresby  states  regarding  their 
position  :  "The  margin  of  the  ice  continued 
to  trend  to  the  E.  N.  E.  (true),  as  far  as  it  was 

*London  cJazette,  23d  Marcb,  1819. 


Polar  Expeditions.  39 

visible;  and,  from  the  appearance  of  the 
atmosphere,  it  was  clear  that  the  sea  was  not 
incommoded  by  ice,  between  the  E.  N.  E.  and 
S.  E.  points,  within  thirty  miles,  or  limited  by 
land  within  60  or  even  100  miles  of  the  place 
of  the  ship."  * 

One  of  tlic  most  determined  efforts  to  reach 
the  Pole,  and  certainly  the  most  significant 
that  had  been  made  up  to  that  time,  was  the 
one  of  Parry  in  1827.  It  was  the  first  in- 
stance where  a  long  pedestrian  traverse  of  the 
northern  pack-ice  was  contemplated  and  execu- 
ted as  an  auxiliary  to  the  ordinary  operations 
of  the  vessel  of  the  expedition.  Equipped  with 
two  open  flat-floored,  and  runner-mounted 
boats,  the  Enterprise  and  Endeavor — each 
measuring  twenty  feet  in  length  and  seven  feet 
in  breadth — and  a  number  of  sledges,  and  thus 
provided  for  operations  on  both  ice  and  water, 
the  expedition  on  June  23rd  left  H.  M.  Sloop 
Hecla  off  the  coast  of  Spitzbergen  and  headed 
due  northward.  No  serious  obstruction  was 
encountered  until  Lat.  81°  12'  51"  was  reach- 
ed, when  the  boats  had  to  be  hauled  up  on 
the  floe-ice.  From  that  time  until  the  com- 
pletion of  the  journey  the  course  was  one 
almost  continuous  struggle.  The  rough  and 
hummocky  ice,  wholly  unlike  the  flat  plain 
which  had  been  pictured  by  Lutwidge  and 
Scoresby,  and  over  which  it  had  been  assumed 

*  Account  of  the  Arctic  Regioiic,  p.  313. 


40  Tlie  Arctic  Problem,. 

that  a  coach  could  be  driven  for  many  leagues 
in  a  direct  line,  with  its  numerous  pools  and 
water-ways,  and  a  heavy  covering  of  soft 
snow,  made  the  work  of  dragging  an  exceed- 
ingly laborious  one.  Especially  fatiguing  was 
the  management  of  the  boats.  The  heavy  equip- 
ment necessitated  a  constant  retraverse  of  the 
same  journey,  so  that  each  day's  progress  was 
a  repetitionary  effort  made  two,  three,  four  or 
even  five  times.  Indeed,  Parry  remarks  that 
in  some  instances  the  traverse  had  to  be  made 
seven  times  over.  The  management  of  each 
boat,  which,  with  its  full  complement  of  furni- 
ture, clothing,  provisions,  etc.,  weighed  3,753 
pounds,  was  intrusted  to  twelve  men,  the 
weight  per  man,  exclusive  of  four  sledges 
weighing  26  lbs.  each,  being  thus  268  lbs. 

Parry  thus  describes  his  usual  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding : 

*'It  was  my  intention  to  travel  wholly  at 
night,  and  to  rest  by  day,  there  being,  of 
course,  constant  daylight  in  these  regions 
during  the  summer  season.  The  advantages 
of  this  plan,  which  was  occasionally  deranged 
by  circumstances,  consisted  first,  in  our  avoid- 
ing the  intense  and  oppressive  glare  from  the 
snow  during  the  time  of  the  sun's  greatest 
altitude,  so  as  to  prevent,  in  some  degree,  the 
painful  inflammation  in  the  eyes,  called  'snow- 
blindness,'  which  is  common  in  all  snowy 
countries.       We    also    thus    enjoyed    greater 


^"^ 


Polar  Expeditionfi.  41 

warmth  durinii;  the  hours  of  rest,  and  had  a 
better  chance  of  (hying  our  clotlics  ;  l)esides 
which,  no  small  advantage  was  derived  fi-oiii 
the  snow  being  harder  at  night  for  travelling. 
The  only  disadvantage  of  this  plan  was,  that 
the  fogs  were  somewhat  more  frequent  and 
more  thick  by  night  than  by  day,  though  even 
in  this  respect  there  was  less  difference  than 
might  have  been  supposed,  the  tem}>eraturo 
during  the  twenty-four  hours  undergoing  but 

little  variation " 

"When  we  rose  in  the  evening,  wc  com- 
menced our  day  by  prayers,  after  which  we 
took  off  our  fur  sleeping-dresses,  and  put  on 
those  for  travelling;  the  former  being  made  of 
camblet,  lined  with  raccoon-skin,  and  the  latter 
of  strong  blue  box-cloth.  We  made  a  point  of 
always  putting  on  the  same  stockings  and 
boots  for  travelling  in,  whether  they  had  dried 
during  the  day  or  not;  and  I  believe  it  was 
only  in  five  or  six  instances,  at  the  most,  that 
they  were  not  either  still  wet  or  hard-frozen. 
This,  indeed,  was  of  no  consequence,  beyond 
the  discomfort  of  first  putting  them  on  in  this 
state,  as  they  were  sure  to  be  thoroughly  wet 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  commencing  our 
journey ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  of 
vital  importance  to  keep  dry  things  for  sleep- 
ing in.  Being  'rigged'  for  travelling,  we  break- 
fasted upon  warm  cocoa  and  biscuits,  and  after 
stowiny:  the  thint^js  in   the  boats  and  on  the 


42  The  Arctic  Problem. 

sledges,  so  as  to  secure  them,  as  much  as 
possible,  from  wet,  we  set  off  on  our  day's 
journey,  and  usually  travelled  from  five  to  five 
and  a  half  hours,  then  stopped  an  hour  to 
dine,  and  again  travelled  four,  five,  or  even  six 
hours,  according  to  circumstances.  After  this 
we  halted  for  the  night,  as  we  called  it,  though 
it  was  usually  early  in  the  morning,  selecting 
the  largest  surface  of  ice  we  happened  to  be 
near,  for  hauling  the  boats  on,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  danger  of  its  breaking  up  by  coming  in 
contact  with  other  masses,  and  also  to  prevent 
drift  as  much  as  possible.  The  boats  were 
placed  close  alongside  each  other,  with  their 
sterns  to  the  wind,  the  snow  or  wet  cleared  out 
of  them,  and  the  sails,  supported  by  the  bam- 
boo masts  and  three  paddles,  placed  over  them 
as  awnings,  an  entrance  being  left  at  the  bow. 
Every  man  then  immediately  put  on  dry 
stockings  and  fur  boots,  after  which  we  set- 
about  the  necessary  repairs  of  boats,  sledges, 
or  clothes ;  and,  after  serving  the  provisions  for 
the  succeeding  day  we  went  to  supper.  Most 
of  the  officers  and  men  then  smoked  their  pipes, 
which  served  to  dry  the  boats  and  awnings 
very  much,  and  usually  raised  the  temperature 

of  our  lodgings  10°  or  15° We  then 

concluded  our  day  with  prayers,  and  having 
put  on  our  fur-dresses,  lay  down  to  sleep  with 
a  degree  of  comfort,  which  perhaps  few  persons 
could    imagine  possible    under  such   circum- 


Polar   Exprrlifions.  43 

stances;  our  chief  inconvenience  being,  that  we 
were  somewhat  pinched  for  room,  and  there- 
fore obliged  to  stow  rather  closer  than  was 
quite  agreeable.  The  temperature,  while  we 
slept,  was  usually  from  3(5°  to  45°,  according 
to  the  state  of  the  external  atmosphere  ;  but  on 
one  or  two  occasions,  in  calm  and  warm  weather, 
it  rose  as  high  as   60°  to  ()()°,  obliging  us  to 

throw  off  a  part  of  our  fur-dress Our 

allowance  of  provisions  for  each  man  per  day 
was  as  follows : 

Biscuit 10  ounces 

Pemmican 9        " 

Sweetened  Cocoa  Powder  1  ounce,  to  make  1  pint. 

Rum 1  gill 

Tobacco 3  ounces  per  week. 

Our  fuel  consisted  entirely  of  spirits  of  wine, 
of  which  two  pints  formed  our  daily  allow- 
ance, the  cocoa  being  cooked  in  an  iron  boiler, 
over  a  shallow  iron  lamp,  with  seven  wicks ; 
a  simple  apparatus,  which  answered  our  pur- 
pose remarkably  well." 

This  graphic  account  gives  little  idea  of 
the  hardships,  or  perhaps  rather,  difficulties, 
that  were  encountered  in  the  passage  of  the 
pack-sea.  The  rapid  thawing  and  breaking 
up  of  the  floating  ice-masses,  which  in  many 
instances  were  barely  strong  enough  to  sup- 
port the  weight  of  a  single  boat  with  its 
complement  of  men,  the  yielding  crust  and 
almost  innumerable  water-ways,  and  the  strong 
southwardly-trending     current     combined    to 


44  The  Arctic  Problem. 

■render  progress  extremely  slow  and  irksome. 
Indeed,  on  the  last  day  or  days  the  southerly 
drift  more  than  counterbalanced  the  actual 
advance  made,  so  that  on  the  26th  of 
July  the  position,  as  determined  by  a  meri- 
dian altitude  of  the  sun— 82°  40'^  23"— was 
actually  three  miles  to  the  south  of  the  posi- 
tion which  had  been  determined  at  midnight 
of  the  22nd.  "Again,"  as  Parry  states,  "we 
were  but  one  mile  to  the  north  of  our  place 
at  noon  on  the  21st,  though  we  had  estimated 
our  distance  made  good  at  twenty-three  miles. 
Thus  it  appeared  that,  for  the  last  five  days, 
we  had  been  struggling  against  a  southerly 
drift  exceeding  four  miles  per  day."* 

Parry's  farthest  north,  a  little  beyond  82° 
45',  was  made  seemingly  on  the  morning  of 
July  23rd.  At  that  time  the  distance  from  the 
Hecla,  bearing  S.  8°  W.,  was  only  172  miles, 
to  accomplish  which  it  is  assumed  fully  290 
miles  were  covered,  of  which  about  6ne  hun- 
dred were  performed  by  water  previous  to  en- 
tering the  ice.  "As  we  travelled  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  our  distance  on  the  ice  three, 
and  not  unfrequently  five  times  over,  we  may 
safely  multiply  the  length  of  the  road  by  two 
and  a  half;  so  that  our  whole  distance,  on  a 
very  moderate  calculation,  amounted  to  five 
hundred  and  eighty  geographical,  or  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  statute  miles,  l)cing  nearly 
*Naxrative,  p.  102. 


Polar  Expeditions.  45 

sufficient  to  have  reached  the  Pole  in  u  direct 
hne." 

An  analysis  of  Parry's  journey  leads  to  a 
simple  conclusion :  given  a  better  condition 
of  the  ice  for  travelling,  and  a  lighter  equip- 
ment, obviating  the  necessity  of  retraverses, 
a  decided  advance  could  liave  been  made  in 
the  direction  of  the  Pole,  with  the  possibility 
of  even  reaching  the  Pole.  The  problem  pre- 
sents itself:  Can  these  conditions  be  met? 
There  can  be  no  question,  as  Parry  himself  in- 
timates, that  at  an  earlier  season  the  ice,  crisp 
and  solidly  frozen,  would  have  been  in  a  much 
more  favorable  condition  for  a  traverse  than  in 
the  months  of  June  and  July,  when  it  becomes 
spongy  and  rotten,  and  harbors  an  almost  end- 
less series  of  ramifying  water-lanes  and  pools. 
The  constant  launchings  and  up-haulings  of 
the  boats  are  an  incident  of  an  ice-journey 
which  cannot  conduce  to  satisfactory  progress. 
Whether  or  not  the  great  quantities  of  soft 
snow  which  were  encountered  were  due  to  an 
unusually  wet  season,  or  were  the  product  of  a 
summer  season  as  distinguished  from  the  winter, 
cannot  be  precisely  stated.  That  the  summer 
was  an  unusually  wet  one  cannot  be  doubted, 
and  Parry  states  (p.  129)  that  the  quantity  of 
rain  that  fell  was  twenty  times  that  which  he 
had  observed  in  any  preceding  summer  in  the 
Polar  regions.  Parry's  men  were  not  provided 
with  snow-shoes,  and  it  is  stated  that  no  form 


46  Tlie  Arctic  ProbJnn. 

of  snow-shoe  could  have  heen  used  with  advan- 
tage, owing  to  the  very  hummocky  condition 
of  the  ice.  Not  improbably,  however,  with  a 
lighter  equipment  a  decided  advantage  might 
have  been  derived  from  these  articles,  especi- 
ally in  an  early  season,  before  the  forcing  of 
the  pack,  when  the  ice  j)resents  a  much  less 
hummocky  surface  than  at  the  time  of  its 
coursing  and  crushing.  ^ 

As  regards  the  lightening  of  the  equipment, 
there  can  be  no  question  that,  with  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  experience  extending  over  sixty 
years,  it  can  be  very  materiall}^  effected.  The 
journey  of  Mr.  Peary  is  especially  fruitful  in 
this  regard,  and  particularly  impressive  is  the 
lesson  taught  by  the  simplicity  of  the  personal 
accoutrement^  and  the  food-supply.  Most  of 
all  significant,  however,  is  the  fact  that  a  long 
Arctic  journey  can  be  safely  undertaken  by  but 
two  men;  and,  doubtless,  a  small  party  would 
be  preferable  in  a  dash  for  the  Pole  to  a  large 
force  whose  principal  function  would  be  the 
hauling  of  its  own  equipment. 

In  concluding  his  narrative.  Parry  expresses 
a  doubt  as  to  the  feasilnlity  of  the  traverse  on 
the  lines  which  he  attempted  to  carry  out,  and 

iLockwood  and  Brainard  in  their  long  journey  northward 
were  also  unprovided  with  snow-shoes,  a  circumstance  which 
was  afterwards  much  regretted  by  the  leader  of  the  party. 

^Mr.  Peary's  reindeer-suit,  which  was  used  on  the  inland  ice 
to  the  exclusion,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  journey,  of  both 
tent  and  sleeping-bag,  weighed  only  113^  lbs. 


Pofnr   ErprrJifinv!^.  47 

of  which  he,  following  Franklin,  was  an 
enthusiastic  advocate.  lie  thus  remarks : 
"That  the  ohject  is  of  still  more  difficult  at- 
tainment, than  was  before  supposed,  even  })y 
those  persons  who  were  the  best  qualified  to 
judge  of  it,  will,  I  believe,  appear  evident  from 
a  perusal  of  the  foregoing  pages;  nor  caul, 
after  much  consideration  and  some  experience 
of  the  various  difficulties  which  belong  to  it, 
recommend  any  material  improvement  in  the 
plan  lately  adopted.  Among  the  various 
schemes  suggested  for  this  purpose,  it  has  been 
proposed  to  set  out  from  Spitzbergen,  and  to 
make  a  rapid  journey  to  the  northward,  with 
sledges,  or  sledge-boats,  drawn  wholly  by  dogs 
or  rein-deer ;  but,  however  feasible  this  plan 
may  at  first  sight  appear,  I  cannot  say  that 
our  late  experience  of  the  nature  of  the  ice 
which  they  would  probably  have  to  encounter, 
has  been  at  all  favourable  to  it"  (p.  143). 
Parry,  however,  had  reason  to  subsequently 
change  his  opinion,  for  in  1845,  eighteen 
years  after  the  accomplishment  of  his  journey, 
we  find  him  writing  to  Sir  John  Barrow  as 
follows :  "It  is  evident  that  the  causes  of  fail- 
ure in  our  former  attempt  in  the  year  1827 
were  principally  two;  first  and  chiefly,  the 
broken,  rugged  and  soft  state  of  the  surface  of 
the  ice  over  which  we  traveled ;  and,  secondly, 
the  drifting  of  the  whole  body  of  ice  in  a 
southerly    direction.     On  mature  rcconsidcra- 


48  The  Arctic  Problem. 

tion  of  all  the  circumstances  attending  this  en- 
terprise, I  am  induced  to  alter  the  opinion  I 
gave  as  to  its  practicability  in  my  Journal,  p. 
144,  because  I  believe  it  to  be  an  object  of  no 
very  difficult  attainment,  if  set  about  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner.  My  plan  is,  to  go  out  with  a 
single  ship  to  Spitzbergen,  just  as  we  did  in 
the  Hecla,  but  not  so  early  in  the  season,  the 
object  for  that  year  being  merely  to  find  secure 

winter  quarters  as  far  north  as  possible 

I  propose  that  the  expedition  should  leave  the 
ship  in  the  course  of  the  month  of  April,  when 
the  ice  would  present  one  hard  and  unbroken 
surface,  over  which,  as  I  confidently  believe,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  make  good  thirty 
miles  per  day  without  any  exposure  to  wet, 
and  probably  without  snow-blindness.  At  this 
season,  too,  the  ice  would  probably  be  station- 
ary, and  thus  the  two  great  difficulties  which 
we  formerly  had  to  encounter  would  be  en- 
tirely obviated.  It  might  form  a  part  of  the 
plan  to  push  out  supplies  in  advance  to  the  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  miles,  to  be  taken  up  on 
the  way,  so  as  to  commence  the  journey  com- 
paratively light ;  and  as  the  intention  would  be 
to  complete  the  enterprise  in  the  course  of  the 
month  of  May,  before  any  disruption  of  the  ice 
or  any  material  softening  of  the  surface  had 
taken  place,  similar  supplies  might  be  sent  out 
to  the  same  distance,  to  meet  the  party  on  their 
return." 


PoJar  Expeditions.  49 

That  this  latter  plan  of  Parry  is  a  feasible 
one  there  is  every  reason  to  believe; — indeed, 
no  other  plan  for  reaching  the  Pole  commends 
itself  to  equal  favor,  unless  it  be  that  of  trying 
a  staunch  steamer  in  the  middle  or  latter  part 
of  August,  in  a  favorable  season,  and  forcing  a 
passage  due  northward  (vid.  post.).  No  expedi- 
tion undertaken  since  Parry's  time  has  brought " 
in  fiicts  severely  opposed  to  the  plan  outlined, 
and,  therefore,  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable^  that 
the  effort  in  this  direction  should  have  received 
such  scant  encouragement,  and  been  replaced 
to  so  great  an  extent  as  it  has  been  by  the 
much  less  promising  west  Greenland  or  Ameri- 
can route.  The  fact  that  a  shore-line  could 
here  be  followed  for  so  great  a  distance  north- 
ward was,  doubtless,  the  determining  factor, 
in  at  least  several  instances,  in  the  selection  of 
this  route — a  route,  the  impracticability  of 
w^hich,  so  far  as  penetration  by  vessel  is  con- 
cerned, has  been  abundantly  proved  by  the 
experiences  of  Kane  (in  1853),  Hayes  (1860), 
Hall  (1871),  and  Nares  (1875).' 

iFid.  ant.,  pp.  22-24. 

^Kane's  brig,  the  Advance  (120  tons),  was  stopped  hj  the  ice 
about  seventeen  miles  beyond  the  entrance  to  Smith  Sound, 
in  Lat.  78°  45'  ;  Cape  Constitution,  the  furthest  point  reached 
by  a  sledging  party  (1854),  is  by  some  authorities  placed  in 
Lat.  81°  22',  by  others  in  80°  50'.  The  United  States  of 
Hayes,  a  schooner  of  130  tons,  found  it  impossible  to  pass  be- 
yond Littleton  Island,  and  winter-quarters  were  established  at 
Port  Foulke,  in  Lat.  78°  17'  ;  a  sledging  party  is  said  to  have 
penetrated  the  following  May  to  8lo  35',  but  most  geographers 


50  The  Arctic  Prohln,,. 

The  ino;st  interesting  fact  connected  with 
Parry's  expcMlition,  and  one  wliich  lias  in  a 
measure  escaped  the  attention  of  Arctic  geog- 
ra})hers,  is  the  exceedingly  small  quantity  of 
ice  that  was  met  with  at  the  most  northerly 
limits  reached  by  the  expedition.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  from  the  narrative  that  a  staunch 
steamer,  such  as  has  been  several  times  used  in 
later  expeditions,  might  have  pushed,  and  with- 
out much  effort,  entirely  through  the  ice  which 
impeded  Parry,  and  freely  entered  the  open 
water  beyond.  Parry  thus  describes  the  con- 
ditions which  presented  themselves  on  July 
25th:  "So  small  was  the  ice  now  around  us, 
that  we  were  obliged  to  halt  for  the  night  at 
two,  A.  M.,  on  the  25th,  being  upon  the  only 
piece  in  sight,  in  any  direction,  on  which  we 
could  venture  to  trust  the  boats  while  we  rest- 
ed.  Such  was  the  ice  in  the  latitude  of  82°|"! 

This  intimation  of  a  largely  open  Polar  sea 
Parry  emphasizes  with  a  concluding  state- 
ment: "I  may  add,  in  conclusion,  that  before 
the  middle  of  August,  when  we  left  the  ice  in 
our  boats,  a  ship  might  have  sailed  to  the  lati- 
tude of  82°,  almost  without  touching  a  piece 

agree  that  the  position  is  not  to  be  depended  upon.  Hall's 
vessel,  the  Polaris,  was  beset  in  the  ice,  on  August  30th,  in 
Lat.  82°  10',  the  farthest  north  that  had  been  reached  by 
vessel  up  to  that  time,  but  four  years  later,  in  1875,  the 
powerful  screw-steamer  Alert,  of  tlie  British  Expedition, 
penetrated  along  the  same  route,  tlirough  llobeson  Channel,  to 
82°  27' ;  a  sledging  party  extended  the  exploration  to  83°  20'. 


Polar  Expeditions.  51 

of  ice ;  and  it  was  the  general  opinion  among 
us  that,  by  the  end  of  the  month,  it  would 
probably  have  been  no  very  difficult  matter  to 
reach  the  parallel  of  83°  above  the  meridian  of 
the  Seven  Islands"  (Narrative,  p.  148).  It 
might  here  be  properly  asked:  If  a  sailing 
vessel  could  have  penetrated  without  very 
great  difficulty  to  the  83d  parallel,  how  much 
further  may  not  a  steam- vessel  have  penetrat- 
ed? Did  Parry  in  fact  discover  an  "open  Polar 
sea"?  This  would  appear  to  be  the  case  from 
the  statement  that  beyond  82°  45' no  ice  of  any 
magnitude  was  visible;  but  it  should  be  recol- 
lected that  a  ship's  horizon,  even  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  crow's  nest,  is  an  extremely  limit- 
ed one.  From  the  ice-cake  on  which  Parry 
rested  at  his  "farthest  north"  the  horizon 
must  have  been  limited  to  some  five  or  six 
miles  at  the  utmost,  and,  therefore,  the  indica- 
tions of  open  water  need  not  have  extended 
even  to  the  83d  parallel.  Indeed,  Parry  him- 
self admits  that  a  yellow  ice-blink  almost  con- 
tinuously overspread  the  northern  horizon,  a 
general  indication  of  ice  not  being  far  distant. 
With  all  allowances,  however,  it  may  be 
affirmed  that  in  the  summer  of  1827  open 
water,  beyond  the  northern  pack,  extended  quite 
to,  if  not  considerably  above,  the  83d  parallel 
of  latitude.  The  late  Dr.  Petermann  was  the 
most  persistent  believer  in  the  comparative 
openness  of  the   northern  Polar  sea,  and  the 


52  The  Arctic  Problem. 

staunchest  advocate  of  the  Spitzbergen  route  as 
the  route,  for  vessels,  to  the  Pole.  Commenting 
on  the  papers  of  this  distinguished  geographer, 
Admiral  Richards,  who  was  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Arctic  Committee  of  the  Admiralty 
which  recommended  the  Smith  Sound  route, 
states  that  no  papers  read  before  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  on  the  subject  of  reaching 
the  Pole  appeared  to  him  "so  sound,  so 
logical,  or  so  convincing."  Carrying  out  the 
plan  of  exploration  in  this  region,  he  further 
states :  "  Briefly,  the  proposition  was  that  two 
stout  and  well  found  steamers,  such  as  the 
Alert  and  Discovery,  should  seek  an  opening 
through  the  ice  north  of  Spitzbergen,  an  at- 
tempt which  has  never  yet  been  made.  It  is 
the  only  route  which  offers  a  prospect  of  suc- 
cess by  ships,  and  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that 
it  does  hc^ld  out  a  very  fair  prospect."  (Proc. 
Royal  Geogr.  Soc,  21,  p.  283). 


III. 

The  Spitzbergen  Route  to  the  Pole. 

The  plan  of  a  sledge-journey  to  the  Pole, 
while  it  was  first  seriously  attempted  by  that 
able  officer,  was  not  original  with  Parry.  As 
has  already  been  said,  the  suggestion,  trans- 
mitted through  Barrow,  was  received  from 
Captain  (afterwards  Sir)  John  Franklin,  but 
several  years  before,  the  younger  Scoresby  had 
already  advocated  this  method  of  travel.  Thus 
he  states,  in  his  "Account  of  the  Arctic  Re- 
gions" (1820,  p.  54):.  ''But  though  the  access 
by  sea  be  effectually  intercepted,  I  yet  imagine, 
notwithstanding  the  objections  which  have 
been  urged  against  the  scheme,  that  it  would 
by  no  means  be  impossible  to  reach  the  Pole  by 

travelling  across  the  ice  from  Spitzbergen 

As  the  journey  would  not  exceed  1,200  miles 
(600  miles  each  way),  it  might  be  performed 
on  sledges  drawn  by  dogs  or  rein-deer,  or 
even  on  foot.  Foot  travellers  would  require 
to  draw  the  apparatus  and  the  provisions 
necessary  for  the  undertaking,  on  sledges  by 
hand;  and  in  this  way,  with  good  despatch, 
the  journey  would  occupy  at  least  two  months; 
but  with  the  assistance  of  dogs,  it  might 
probably  be  accomplished  in  a  little  less  time. 


54  The  Arctic  Prohlem. 

With  favorable  winds,  great  advantage  might 
be  derived  from  sails  set  upon  the  sledges; 
which  sails,  when  the  travellers  were  at  rest, 
would  serve  for  the  erection  of  tents.  Small 
vacancies  in  the  ice  would  not  prevent  the 
journey,  as  the  sledges  could  be  adapted  so  as 
to  answer  the  purpose  of  boats ;  nor  would  the 
usual  unevenness  of  the  ice,  or  the  depth  or 
softness  of  the  snow,  be  an  insurmountable 
difficult}^,  as  journeys  of  near  equal  length, 
and  under  similar  inconveniences,  have  been 
accomplished."  Scoresby's  plan  was,  in  part, 
a  remarkable  anticipation  of  the  method  so 
successfully  followed  by  various  Arctic  ex- 
plorers from  McClintock  to  Peary,  while  in  its 
special  feature,  the  convertible  sledge-boat,  it 
foreshadows  the  main  feature  of  the  EkroU 
project. 

The  relative  advantages  of  the  Spitzbergen 
and  American  routes  to  the  Pole  are  set  forth 
in  a  series  of  ''discussion  papers"  published 
in  the  Proceedings  and  Journal  of  the  Roj'al 
Geographical  Society  of  London  for  the  years 
1865,  1866,  1868,  and  1872.  The  participants 
in  the  discussions  were  Captain  Sherard  Os- 
born,  Sir  George  Back,  Admiral  Gollinson,  Cap- 
tain Maury,  Clements  R.  Markham,  Sir  Leo- 
pold McClintock,  Admiral  Richards,  J.  Craw- 
ford, and  Koldewey,  who  favored  the  Smith 
Sound  route;  A.  Petermann,  General  Sabine, 
Sir  Edward  Belcher,  Admiral  Ommaney,  Ad- 


The  Sj)ifzhnr/e,)  Houfr  to  the  Pole.  55 

miral  Fitzroy,  W.  PI  Hickson,  Sir  Roderick 
iMurchison,  Captain  Inglefield,  Staff-Command- 
er Davis,  and  Mr.  Lamont,  who  favored  the 
Spitzbergen  route;  and  Captain  Allen  Young, 
who  favored  both  routes.  The  most  striking 
fact  made  clear  in  connection  with  the  discus- 
sions before  that  honorable  body  was  the  tena- 
city with  which  opinions  once  expressed  were 
adhered  to;  so  that  although  the  controversy 
extended  over  a  period  of  seven  years — the 
lack  of  unanimity  among  Arctic  experts  de- 
feating the  application  addressed  to  the  Lords 
of  the  Admiralty  in  behalf  of  a  Government 
Polar  Expedition — there  appears  to  have  been 
no  recession  from  ''first  positions."  What  is 
perhaps  equally  striking,  and  certainly  much 
less  explicable,  is  the  fact,  as  announced  by 
the  President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  So- 
ciety, Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  that  the  "  Coun- 
cil of  the  Society  had  appointed  a  committee 
of  the  most  experienced  and  practical  members 
of  their  body,  to  report  their  opinions  upon  the 
subject;  and  they  were  unanimously  in  favour 
of  Smith  Sound"  (Session  of  April  22,  1872). 

How  this  unanimity  in  favor  of  the  Smith 
Sound  route  was  obtained  among  the  "most 
experienced  and  practical  members"  of  the 
Society,  in  face  of  the  contrary  opinion  of  such 
men  as  General  Sabine,  Sir  Edward  Belcher, 
Admiral  Ommaney,  Admiral  Fitzroy,  Captain 
Inglefield,  and  Staff-Commander  Davis,  most 


56  Tlie  Arctic  ProhJcm. 

of  them  tried  Arctic  or  Antarctic  explorers,  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive.  The  later  experiences 
of  Hall,  Nares,  and  Greely,  added  to  the  experi- 
ences of  all  previous  explorers  in  the  same 
region,  only  more  clearly  demonstrate  how  ill- 
judged  must  have  been  the  facts  which  were 
marshalled  up  in  favor  of  the  views  of  the 
"special"  committee.* 

The  more  remarkable  does  the  opposition  to 
the  Spitzbergen  route  appear  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  prior  to  1865  not  a  single  attempt 
had  been  made  by  steam-vessel  to  penetrate 
the  northern  pack  at  a  high  latitude,  and 
between  1865  and  1872  Nordenskj old's  effort 
in  the  Sofia — undertaken  more  especially  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  the  relative  advan- 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  found  in  a  paper  by  Mr. 
Markham,  on  the  Arctic  Expedition  of  1875-70  (Proc.  Royal 
Geogr.  Soc,  21,  p.  540),  that  in  the  report  of  the  Committee 
above  referred  to,  "all  mention  of  reaching  the  North  Pole 
as  an  object,  was  purposely  excluded."  The  unanimity  on 
the  part  of  the  Committee  thereby  becomes  much  more  intel- 
ligible, although  it  looks  somewhat  as  though  the  change  of 
base  was  intended  to  deceive  the  Government,  the  previous 
discussions  clearly  indicating  the  desirability  of  making  for 
the  Pole.  Significant  in  this  connection  is  the  instruction 
given  by  the  Arctic  Committee  of  the  Admiralty  (Admirals 
Richards,  McClintock,  and  Osborn  )  that  "the  scope  and 
primary  object  of  the  Expedition  should  be  to  attain  the 
highest  northern  latitude,  and,  if  possible,  to  reach  the  North 
Pole."  The  members  constituting  the  special  Committee  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society  were  Sir  George  Back,  Ad- 
miral Collinson,  Admiral  Ommaney,  Admiral  Richards,  Sir 
Leojjold  McClintock,  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  Dr.  Rae,  Mr. 
findlay,  and  Clements  R.  Markham. 


The  Spifzhrr(jni.  Boiife  io  the  Pole.        57 

tage  of  an  autumn  navigation  over  that  of  the 
summer  or  spring  season — when  the  latitude 
of  81°  42'  (Long.  17*°  E.  of  Greenwich)  was 
attained,  was  the  only  one  that  could  in  any 
way  be  considered  in  the  nature  of  a  real  at- 
tempt. Nordenskjold  reached  his  highest  point 
in  the  latter  half  of  September,*  and  was  stop- 
ped by  a  sea  densely  packed  with  broken  ice. 
He  concludes  from  his  experiences  that:  "The 
idea  itself  of  an  open  Polar  Sea  is  evidently  a 
mere  hypothesis,  destitute  of  all  foundation  in 
the  experience  which  has  already  by  very  con- 
siderable sacrifices  been  gained ;  and  the  only 
way  to  approach  the  Pole,  which  can  be  at- 
tempted with  any  probability  of  success,  is 
that  proposed  by  the  most  celebrated  Arctic 
authorities  of  England,  viz :  that  of — after 
having  passed  the  winter  at  the  Seven  Islands, 
or  at  Smith  Sound — continuing  the  journey 
towards  the  North  on  sledges  in  the  spring."  It 
is  a  little  difficult  to  harmonize  the  first  part  of 
this  conclusion  with  Nordenskjold's  own  belief, 
as  expressed  by  himself,  that  if  the  "  year  had 
not  been  unusually  unfavorable  with  regard  to 
the  condition  of  the  ice,  we  might  in  all  proba- 
bility have  proceeded  a  considerable  distance 
farther,  perhaps  beyond  83°  N.  Lat."    If  this  is 

*  "Probably  the  highest  northern  latitude  a  ship  has  ever  yet 
attained."  Nordenskjold,  Swedish  North  Polar  Expedition 
of  1868.  Journ.  lioyal  Geogr.  Soc,  London,  XXXIX,  p. 
142, 1869. 


58  Tlic  Arctic  Problem. 

assumed  to  be  easily  possible — in  other  words,  if 
a  favorable  season  would  permit  of  an  advance 
farther  northward  of  some  90-100  miles — on 
what  foundation  rests  the  assurance  that  an- 
other hundred,  two-hundred,  or  even  five-hun- 
dred miles  might  not  have  been  covered  in  the 
same  way?  Buchan  (with  Franklin)  and  Parry, 
the  only  explorers,  recognized  as  such,  who 
broke  through  or  penetrated  beyond  the  outer 
ice-barrier,  found  at  their  terminals  open  water 
— Parry  at  a  point  only  seventy  statute  miles 
beyond  Nordenskjold's  "farthest" — and  this 
form  of  testimony  must  be  accorded  weight  be- 
yond anything  that  is  derived  mainly  from 
supposition.*    To  this  testimony  must  be  added 

*  The  statement  (vid.  ant. )  that  no  serious  effort  to  penetrate  the 
pack-sea  north  of  Spitzbergen  had  been  made  by  steam- vessel 
up  to  1872  can  be  extended  to  our  own  day.  Petermann,  com- 
menting on  the  lack  of  effort  made  in  this  direction,  and  on 
the  successful  penetration  of  Captain  (Sir  George)  Naresto 
Lat.  82°  27',  affirms  his  belief  thata  properly  equipped  expe- 
dition would  have  no  more  difficulty  in  steaming  through  the 
Spitzbergen  Sea  ice  than  Eoss  had  of  sailing  through  the 
Antarctic  ice  thirty  years  before.  With  the  effort  of  1875-76 
to  penetrate  the  northern  ice  by  way  of  Smith  Sound  and 
Robeson  Channel  applied  to  the  Parry  route,  it  is  thought 
certain  that  the  Pole  would  have  been  attained  {Peter, 
mann's  Mittheilungen,  1877,  p.  24).  Nordenskjold's  positive 
statement  regarding  the  non-existence  of  an  open  Polar  Sea 
is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  cautious  opinion  expressed  by 
Weyprecht,  the  virtual  Commander  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Expedition  of  1872-74,  to  Petermann,  under  date  of  November 
1,  1874  :  Erstens  sind  die  Schliisse  auf  ofenes  Polarmecr  in 
huchsten  Norden  eben  so  falsch  wie  dicjcnigcn  dor  absoluten 
Undurchdringlichkeit  des  vor  dem  neuen  Lande  vorliegen- 


Thr  Spitzherr/cn    Rnvfr  to  the   Pole.         59 

the  corroborative  data  supplied  ])y  the  early 
whalers,  "which,  while  they  may  not  he  consid- 
ered to  be  of  an  absolutely  satisfactory  charac- 
ter, have  certain  elements  of  plausibility  about 
them.  Indeed,  it  would  seem  on  trustworthy 
evidence,  as  adduced  by  the  late  Dr.  Petermann, 
that  a  whaler,  the  Truelove,  of  Hull,  as  late 
as  18.'>7,  penetrated  without  much  liindrance 
to  82°  30'  (Long.  12°-15°  E.),  and  so  exper- 
ienced a  whaler  and  Arctic  navigator  as  Capt- 
ain David  Gray,  of  Peterhead,  affirmed  his  be- 
lief that  in  1874,  having  penetrated  to  79°  45', 
beyond  which  little  or  no  ice  was  to  be  found, 
he  "could  have  gone  up  to  the  Pole,  or  at  any 

den  Eises  (Mittheilungen,  1874,  p.  452).  The  failure  of  the 
Swedish  Expedition  of  1872-73  (the  main  object  of  which  was 
a  Polar  sledge-journey)  to  reach  a  high  northern  latitude  has 
little  bearing  upon  the  question  at  issue,  and  still  less,  the 
efforts  of  Koldewey,  the  Commander  of  the  Second  German 
Expedition  of  1869-70,  to  penetrate  the  east  Greenland  ice- 
barrier  between  the  parallels  of  75°  and  76°.  The  main  pur- 
pose of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Expedition  of  1872-74,  under 
"Weyprecht  and  Payer,  was  the  forcing  of  the  North-East  Pas- 
sage ;  the  remarkable  drift  of  the  Tegethoff,  through  which 
Francis-Joseph  Land  was  accidentally  discovered,  deals  with 
an  ice-formation  very  different  from  that  of  the  north  Spitz- 
bergen  sea.  Lieutenant  Payer  thus  expresses  himself  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Polar  problem  :  "  Our  own  track  to  the  north  of 
Novaya  Zemlya  carries  no  weight  in  considering  this  ques- 
tion, for  we  were  indebted  for  our  progress  to  a  floe  of  ice, 
and  not  to  our  own  exertions."  The  Dutch  Expedition  of 
1878  was  in  the  nature  of  a  reconnaissance — a  preliminary  to 
more  extended  operations  in  the  future  ;  Captain  de  Bruyne, 
in  the  schooner  William  Barents  (79  tons),  reached  the  front 
edge  of  the  ice  north  of  Spitzbergen  in  Lat.  80°  18'. 


60  The  Arctic  Prohkm. 

rate  far  beyond  where   anyone  liad  ever  been 
before."  * 

The  obstacle  that  has,  perhaps,  stood  most 
in  the  way  of  the  assumption  of  the  Spitz- 
bergen  route  to  the  Pole,  by  English  and 
American  explorers  at  any  rate,  is  the  so- 
called  "canon"  of  Arctic  exploration :  "Stick 
to  the  land-floe"  or  "follow  a  line  of  coast". 
Among  the  more  urgent  and  persistent  up- 
holders of  this  doctrine  have  been  the  late 
Admiral  Sherard  Osborn  and  Mr.  Clements  R. 
Markham.  The  maxim  is  in  some  respects, 
doubtless,  a  good  one,  but  it  is  questionable 
if  the  experience  which  has  thus  far  been  ac- 
quired from  Arctic  ventures  is  sufficient  to 
warrant  its  being  pinned  to  the  mast,  for  all 
time.  Indeed,  our  experience  with  the  open 
pack  is  still  much  too  limited  to  permit  us  to 
postulate  a  measure  of  the  possibilities  which  it 

*  Letter  to  ]Mr.  Leigh  Smith  (Proc.  Eoyal  Geogr.  Soc,  19,  p. 
179).  From  a  passage  contained  in  "Witsen's  "Tartarye," 
published  in  1707,  Petermann  infers  that  Francis-Joseph 
Land  may  have  been  discovered  and  reached  three  hundred 
years  before  the  arrival  there  of  the  Tegethoff.  It  recites  that 
a  certain  Captain  Cornelia  Ptoule  had  "been  in  84) jO  or  85° 
N.  Lat.  in  the  longitude  of  Xovaya  Zemlya,  and  has  sailed 
about  forty  miles  between  broken  land,  seeing  large  open 

water  behind  it He  found  lots  of  birds  there,  and 

very  tame."  Petermann,  commenting  on  this  statement, 
states  that  the  longitude  of  Nova  Zembla  passes  right  through 
Austria  Sound  and  Francis-Jo.seph  Land  ;  that  the  latter  is  a 
"broken  land,"  behind  which  Lieutenant  Payer  saw  "large 
open  water,"  and  "found  lots  of  birds."  The  coincidental 
description  is  certainly  striking. 


Tlic  Spitzhcrfjrn  Rmite  in  tlie  Pair.         Gl 

presents;  and  at  the  present  time,  with  our 
intimate  knowledge  of  past  exploration,  the 
Nansen  expedition  is  planned  wholly  on 
the  basis  of  open  pack  service.  The  failure, 
by  the  heavy  vessels  of  the  British  Expedition, 
to  penetrate  the  ice  north  of  Robeson  Channel, 
and  the  determination  that  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  Greenland,  or  of  its  outlying  islands, 
probably  terminates  not  far  from  the  84th 
parallel  of  latitude,  practically  dispose,  for  the 
present,  at  least,  of  the  Smith  Sound  route  as 
an  available  route  to  the  Pole.  Sir  George 
Nares  himself  states  his  belief  that  "great 
difficulty  will  be  found  in  advancing  much 
nearer  to  the  Pole  by  the  Smith  Sound  route 
than  has  already  been  attained,  either  in  a 
ship,  or  by  boat,  or  sledges,  unless,  indeed,  the 
coast  of  Greenland — contrary  to  my  expecta- 
tions— trends  to  the  northward  beyond  Lat. 
83°  20'  N."*  But  if  this  route  is  impracticable, 
manifestly  the  only  resource  is  to  the  open 
pack — unless,  indeed,  a  coast-line  be  found  to 
extend  northward  for  a  considerable  distance 
beyond  the  farthest  point  to  which  Francis- 
Joseph  Land  is  known  to  extend — and  it  be- 
comes merely  a  question  as  to  which  pack 
offers  the  greatest  advantages  for  a  direct  tra- 
verse. And  no  special  regret  need  be  ex- 
pressed for  this  one  alternative,  for,  despite  all 
efforts  that  have  been  made  to  magnify  the 

*  Proc.  Royal  Geogr.  Soc,  21,  p.  281. 


62  The  Arrfic  Problem. 

success  of  recent  expeditions,  and  to  minimize 
the  results  obtained  by  earlier  explorers, 
impartial  critics  must  admit  that  of  all  at- 
tempts made  to  reach  the  highest  latitude,  the 
one  of  Parry,  in  1827,  taking  the  essential  cir- 
cumstances into  account,  was  by  far  the  most 
successful  and  remarkable ;  and  this  expedition 
was  conducted  on  the  open  pack.  That  in 
those  early  days  of  Arctic  exploration,  with  the 
rude  appliances  of  food  and  equipment  which 
were  then  available,  he  should  have  been  able 
to  penetrate  to  within  forty  miles  of  tlie  far- 
thest north  that  has  since  been  made  possible 
— made  possible  with  an  experience  extend- 
ing over  fifty  years,  and  an  expenditure  of 
money,  the  vastness  of  which,  as  a  vehicle 
of  Arctic  exploration,  could  never  have  been 
even  remotely  contemplated  by  Parr}- — is  a 
fact  which  appeals  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
open  pack.  This  appeal  comes  the  more  forci- 
bly since,  as  has  already  been  stated,  no  sin- 
cere attempt  on  tlie  lines  laid  down  by  Parry 
has  been  attempted  since  his  time,  and  conse- 
quently no  contradiction  to  the  belief  in  the 
easy  feasibility  of  this  route  given. 

The  question  of  success,  in  fact,  seems  to  re- 
solve itself  entirely  into  the  possibilities  of 
sledging,  and  Parry  has  expressed  himself  de- 
cidedly on  this  point.  He  believed  that  in  a 
sufficiently  early  season,  before  the  breaking 
up  of  the  ice,  he  could  accomplish  thirty  miles 


i»-^  , 


The  Spifzhcrgen  Rovte  to  the  Pole.        03 

per  day.  Assuming  that  only  one-half  of  this 
amount  were  made  good,  which  would  ap- 
proximately represent  the  rate  of  travel  of 
Lock  wood  and  Brainard  in  a  twenty-two  days 
sledging  trip  from  Cape  Bryant  to  Lockwood 
Island  and  return,  the  journey,  from  the  south- 
ern border  of  the  ice-pack  to  the  Pole  itself, 
could  be  accomplished  in  about  forty  days,  or 
less.  Parry's  failure  to  reach  a  further  north- 
ing than  82°  45'  was  due,  as  has  already  been 
explained,  to  the  southern  drift  which  more 
than  antagonized  the  exceedingly  slow  pro- 
gress in  the  contrary  direction  which  the  heavy 
equipment  permitted.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  had  Parry  had  the  advantages 
of  the  possibilities  of  compacting  and  of  lighten- 
ing in  construction  which  years  of  experience 
have  brought  forth,  the  Pole  itself  might  have 
been  attained.  This  is  the  view  of  so  exper- 
ienced an  Arctic  explorer  as  Sir  Leopold  Mc- 
Clintock,  who,  in  discussing  the  methods 
and  merits  of  ''Arctic  Sledge-travelling,"  states 
his  conviction  that  "the  failure  of  Parry's  at- 
tempt to  reach  the  North  Pole  in  1827  was 
largely  due  to  the  great  weight  of  his  boats, 
and  the  consequent  difficulty  of  dragging  them 
over  the  ice.  This  error  we  have  attempted  to 
correct  by  supplying  boats*  of  considerably  less 
than  half  the  weight  of  Parry's." 

*To  the  British  Polar  Expedition  of  1875-76.     Proc.   Boyal 

Geogr.  Soc,  19,  p.  476. 


64  The  Arctic  Problem. 

One  of  the  numerous  fallacies  connected 
with  Arctic  exploration  is  the  supposition, 
held  by  some,  that  sledge-journeys  cannot  be 
prosecuted  for  any  very  great  distance  over  the 
pack,  or  indeed  anywhere.  It  is  true,  as  stated 
by  Admiral  Richards  (Proc.  Royal  Geogr.  Soc, 
21,  p.  283),  that  the  "longest  distance  ever 
accomplished  by  any  one  sledge-party,  or  by 
any  combination  of  sledges,  in  one  direction  did 
not  exceed  360  geographical  miles  in  a  straight 
line,"  but  this  fact,  in  itself,  barely  warrants 
the  statement  that  "sledge-travelling  with  a 
view  to  reaching  the  Pole  was  at  an  end  for- 
ever." This  position  is  justly  combatted  by 
Dr.  Rae,  who  holds  that  it  is  based  upon  the 
experience  of  but  a  single  party,  and,  that  it 
is  "still  quite  possible  that  sledge-journeys 
might  be  made  to  the  North  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances."  We  have  as  yet  barely 
any  experience  bearing  upon  the  extreme  possi- 
bilities of  sledge-journeyings,  and  what  there  is 
points  much  more  nearly  to  the  positive  rather 
than  to  the  negative  side  of  the  question.  In- 
deed, there  would  seem  to  be  no  limitations  to 
the  work  of  a  properly  equipped  and  conducted 
sledge-party,  whether  on  the  open  pack  or  else- 
where, and  Sir  Leopold  McClintock  probably 
justly  states  that  "there  is  now  no  known 
position,  however  remote,  that  a  well-equipped 
[sledging]  crew  could  not  effect  their  escape 
from,  by  their  own  unaided  efifort." 


The  Spitzbergen  Route  to  the  Pole,        65 

Payer,  the  commander  of  the  land  journeys 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Expedition,  affirms 
his  belief  that  the  only  chance  of  traversing 
the  Polar  realm  is  by  means  of  sledges  (com- 
munication addressed  to  Petermann,  under 
date  of  November  5th,  1874).  Just  as  firmly 
as  he  was  wedded  to  the  proposition  of  pene- 
trating the  Spitzbergen  Sea  by  means  of  pow- 
erful steam- vessels,  so  was  Petermann  opposed 
to  the  principle  of  long  sledge-journeys,  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  which  he  had  no  faith.  A 
strong  support  was  claimed  to  be  given  to  his 
views  by  the  failure  of  the  Swedish  Expedi- 
tion of  1872-73,  when  Nordenskjold  and  Palan- 
der  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  traverse  the 
ice  north  of  Mossel  Bay,  Spitzbergen.  In 
this  experiment,  conducted  over  an  exceeding- 
ly heavy  and  hummocky  ice,  progress  was  on 
some  days  measured  by  less  than  half  a  mile. 
A  weight  of  280  pounds  was  distributed  to 
each  man  of  the  expedition,  or  very  nearly 
that  which  was  allotted  to  the  members  of 
Parry's  party.*  The  ill-success  attending  this 
expedition  must  be  given  due  weight.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  men  more  accustomed 
to  sledge-journeys  than  were  the  members  of 
the  Swedish  Expedition,  or  endowed  with  a 
firmer  determination,  would  have  accomplish- 
ed more.  The  heavy  equipment  seems  again 
to  have  been  the  principal  bar  to  progress,  for 

*Palander,  in  Petermann's  Mittheilungen,  1873,  p.  348. 


66  The  Arctic  Problem. 

Nordenskjold  admits,  that  with  the  assistance 
of  forty  reindeer,  in  place  of  the  single  animal 
which  was  at  the  service  of  the  party,  even 
with  the  exceptionally  unfavorable  condition 
of  the  ice,  they  would  have  been  able  to  pene- 
trate very  far  {nehr  weit)  beyond  the  Parry  Is- 
lands.* 

Brought  to  its  simplest  expression  the  ex- 
ploration byway  of  the  Spitzbergen  Sea  means: 

1.  A  direct  traverse  of  the  sea  and  pack  by 
staunch  steam-vessels,  or 

2.  The  accomplishment  of  a  large,  and  prob- 
ably the  greater,  part  of  the  journey  by 
means  of  sledges  and  portable  boats. 

The  probability  seems  to  lie  with  the  side  of 
the  alternative,  and  in  every  event  its  contin- 
gencies must  be  provided  for.  It  cannot,  how- 
ever, be  too  strongly  insisted  upon  that  prelim- 
inary reconnaissances  to  the  main  effort,  regu- 
lated to  meet  the  exigencies  of  such  effort, 
should  favorable  conditions  present  themselves, 
are  an  essential  to  success.  There  is  no  reason 
why  an  expedition  fitted  out  to  make  a  direct 
passage  northward  should,  in  the  event  of 
specially  unfavorable  conditions  presenting 
themselves,  squander  its  energies  in  an  attempt 
to  accomplish  a  forlorn  hope,  and  return  with 
a  miserable  record  of  failure.  It  would  be  far 
better  to  have  it  return  than  expose  it  to  the 
chances  of  disaster,  and  better  to  outlive  the 

*Petermaun,  1873,  p.  445. 


The  Splfzherf/cn   Route  to  the  Pole.         67 

loss  of  glory  than  suffer  the  penalty  of  misdi- 
rected pride.  The  ready  accessibility  of  the 
Spitzbergen  Sea  places  it  within  easy  reach  of 
expeditions  of  only  moderate  cost,  and  there 
ought  to  be  little  difficulty  in  organizing  yearly 
voyages  to  the  north  with  the  hope  of  once 
stumbling  upon  a  s})ecially  favorable  season. 
As  to  just  which  portion  of  the  Spitzbergen 
Sea  is  most  available — whether  on  the  line  fol- 
lowed by  Parry  or  eastward  by  the  shores  of 
Francis-Joseph  Land  (the  route  favored  by 
Greely,  Markham  and  Melville) can  in  our  pres- 
ent knowledge  scarcely  be  predicated.  The 
western  shores  of  Francis-.Joseph  Land,  should 
they  be  found  to  extend  much  to  the  northward 
of  the  limitations  which  have  been  generally  as- 
signed to  them,  would  doubtless  possess  all  the 
advantages  which  are  involved  in  the  Arctic 
canon  of  keeping  by  the  land ;  and  the  fact 
that  the  land  has  been  traced  (optically)  quite 
to  the  83d  parallel  is  a  circumstance  which 
must  be  given  weight  in  the  consideration  of 
the  possibilities  of  disaster  and  the  necessities 
of  a  forced  retreat.  If  winter-quarters  are  to 
be  established  on  cither  Spitzbergen  or  Francis- 
Joseph  Land,  preliminary  to  an  early  spring 
sledge-journey,  then  manifestly  Francis-Joseph 
Land  has  the  advantage  of  distance,  since  its 
northern  apex  is  nearer  to  the  Pole  by  at  least 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  than  is  the  north- 
ern extremity  of  Spitzbergen.     The  western  or 


68  The  Arctic  Problem. 

"lee"  exposure  of  the  ice-foot  of  Francis- Joseph 
Land,  moreover,  offers  the  proper  requirements 
for  an  even  surface,  and  not  improbably,  also, 
in  this  higher  latitude,  nearer  to  a  centre  of 
currental  motion,  the  pack  itself  would  be 
found  to  be  more  nearly  stationary  than  at  a 
position  further  south. 

The  chances  for  a  successful  issue  to  a  sledge- 
journey  northward  from  Francis-Joseph  Land 
are  seemingly  the  best  which  any  region  offers ; 
and  whether  the  Pole  is  itself  attainable  by 
this  route  or  not,  it  is  all  but  certain  that  a 
much  higher  latitude  would  be  gained  (and 
gained  with  comparatively  little  effort)  than 
has  ever  before  been  possible.  With  winter- 
quarters  established  between  the  82d  and  the 
83d  parallels  of  latitude,  or  whatever  the  far- 
thest point  might  be  to  which  the  impedimenta 
of  an  expedition  could  be  carried  by  steamer, 
a  northern  start  could  be  begun  with  the 
month  of  March — perhaps  still  earlier — and  a 
return  effected  in  time,  possibly,  for  a  final  de- 
parture from  the  region  still  the  same  year.  At 
least  five  months  would  thus  be  available  for 
the  purposes  of  sledging,  and  it  is  probably  not 
too  much  to  expect  that  from  five  to  ten  miles, 
on  an  average,  could  be  covered  every  day  of 
this  period.  With  the  lowest  amount  here 
stated,  of  five  miles,  the  seventy-five  days  out- 
ward journey  would  conduct  to  the  very  gates 
of  the  Pole,  or  to  within  sight  of  the  immedi- 


The  Spitzhergcn  Route  to  the  Pole.        69 

ate  Polar  tract  if  any  high  land  existed  within 
the  boundaries.  Should  it  be  desired  to  spend 
two  winters  in  the  region,  then,  manifestly,  the 
length  of  time  of  exploration  could  be  consid- 
erably extended.  The  most  serious  contin- 
gency to  be  guarded  against  on  an  expedition 
of  this  nature  would  be  that  of  driftage  arising 
from  the  breaking  and  dissolution  of  the  pack  be- 
fore the  return  of  the  exploring  party,  an  event 
that  would  almost  certainly  take  place  full  two 
months  before  the  completion  of  the  enterprise. 
This  condition  would  be  in  measure  met  by  the 
relief  of  portable  boats,  but  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  supporting  vessel  of  the  expedition 
should  not  cruise  through  the  broken  pack- 
sea  along  its  open  front  and  chance  the 
meeting  with  the  returning  parties.  Such  con- 
templated assistance  would  probably  not  be 
absolutely  necessary,  nor  would  it  be  assured  of 
being  carried  out,  but  the  attempt  to  realize  it 
would  cost  little  beyond  effort.  The  advan- 
tages of  the  Francis-Joseph  Land  route  to 
steam-penetration  are  less  apparent,  since 
seemingly  the  82d  or  83d  parallel  can  be 
reached  without  much  effort,  and,  moreover,  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  the  ice  accumula- 
tion about  the  newly  discovered  land  is  not  in 
fact  heavier  than  farther  westward  in  the  more 
open  oceanic  tracts. 

THE  EAST  GREENLAND  SEA. 

What  facilities  for  obtaining  a  high  northing 


70  The  Arctic  Problem. 

are  afforded  by  the  east  Greenland  Sea, — or  more 
properly,  the  sea  that  is  included  between  the 
eastern  shores  of  Greenland  (above  the  78th 
parallel  of  latitude)  and  the  outlying  border 
pack — is  not  known ;  nor,  in  fact,  is  it  positive- 
ly known  that  such  a  sea  exists  at  all  as  a 
permanency,  although  from  the  data  obtained 
by  numerous  whalers  there  can  be  no  question 
of  its  existence  at  times.  Petermann  was  an 
urgent  advocate  of  the  possibilities  of  this  route, 
but  he  had  manifestly  much  underrated  the  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  attending  the  passage  of 
the  outlying  pack-ice.  The*  recent  failures  of 
the  Danish  Commander  Ryder  to  penetrate 
this  ice  add  testimony  to  the  unfortunate  ex- 
periences of  the  Second  German  Expedition 
under  Koldewey  in  1869-70.  Yet  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  in  a  specially  propitious 
season  good  fortune  would  not  attend  an  expe- 
dition in  this  direction.  Captain  David  Gray 
had  apparently  no  difficulty  in  forcing  the  ice 
in  1874,  and,  as  is  well  know^n,  an  open  sea 
in  1817  and  1818  washed  the  east  Greenland 
coast  as  far  north,  seemingly,  as  the  79th  paral- 
lel. The  recent  explorations  of  Mr.  Peary,  by 
demonstrating  that  a  position  on  the  northeast 
coast,  near  to  the  82d  parallel,  can  be  obtained 
through  an  overland  journey  from  the  west, 
opens  up  a  new  possibility,  and  even  good 
promise  for  this  route.  Starting  from  this 
point  (which  could  probably  be  reached  from 


U  2 

O  ir 

'-/)  r 

-J  < 


The  Spitzbcrgcn  Ronte  io  fhr  Pair.        71 

winter-quarters  established  on  Inglefield  Gulf 
as  early  as  the  month  of  May,  or  even  the  mid- 
dle of    April)  as   a  base,   the    Parry    method 
might  be  essayed  thence  over  the  open  frozen 
sea.     This  route  would  probably  have  an  ad- 
vantage over  that  pursued  by  Parry  by  being 
placed  (presumably)  beyond  the  zone  or  belt 
of  greatest  driftage;  on   the  other  hand,  the 
preliminary    traverse   of  some    four    hundred 
miles  of  land,  with  a  full  equipment,  is  a  dis- 
advantage which  cannot  as  yet  be  fully  meas- 
ured in  the  scale  of  possibilities.     That  this 
traverse  is  not  a  decided  obstacle  to  a  protracted 
excursion  beyond,  is  indicated  by  the  prepara- 
tions which  are  at  the  present  time  being  made 
by  Mr.  Peary  for  the  examination  of  the  east- 
ern   and    northern    coast-lines   of    Greenland 
through  an  expedition  starting  from  the  west.    We 
know  as  yet  nothing  of  the  condition  of  the  sea- 
ice  north  or  northeast  of  Greenland ;  seen  from 
Independence  Bay,  in  Lat.  81°  37',  it  appeared 
to  Mr.  Peary  to  be   largely  destitute  of  hum- 
mocks, but  the  distance  of  vision  was  such  as 
to  make  the  determination  somewhat  doubtful. 
At  the  time  of  his  visit,  the  early  days  of  July, 
no    water  was    visible,  but  this  fact  is  no  evi- 
dence of  permanent  gelation.     Melville  Bay  is 
at  the  same  period  of  the  year  very  largely 
solid,  although  two  or  three  weeks  latqr  little 
ice  is  to  be  seen. 

If  Greenland  be  used  as  a  base  of  operations 


72  The  Arctic  Problem. 

to  reach  the  Pole,  then  the  Smith  Sound  route 
commends  itself  to  better  favor  than  the  over- 
land traverse.  It  is  almost  beyond  question 
that  a  staunch  vessel  could  during  one  or  two 
months  of  every  year  penetrate  to  at  least  the 
81st  parallel,  and  find  a  safe  anchorage  in  one 
of  the  numerous  deep  bights  or  fjords  which 
open  into  the  western  waters.  An  advance  post 
for  a  sledging  party  could  probably  be  estab- 
lished the  same  season  considerably  beyond  the 
"farthest"  of  Lockwood  and  Brainard,  or  within 
some  four  hundred  miles  of  the  Pole,  whence 
the  main  journey  over  the  frozen  sea — unless, 
indeed,  the  island-masses  lying  north  of  Green- 
land extend  much  beyond  their  assumed  limits, 
and  permit  of  a  coastal  traverse — would  be  con- 
tinued in  early  spring.  The  southwestwardly 
trending  swing  of  the  Polar  ice,  and  the  ab- 
sence of  sufficiently  extensive  channels  or  ave- 
nues of  discharge  in  this  region,  make  it  highly 
probable,  however,  that  the  open  pack  would  be 
in  a  much  more  broken  and  unfavorable  con- 
dition for  travelling  over  than  in  the  region 
about  Francis-Joseph  Land,  where  to  the  west- 
ward a  broad  avenue  of  release  is  afforded  by 
the  Greenland-Spitzbergen  Sea.  In  its  several 
relations  the  Francis-Joseph  Land  route  holds 
out  the  greatest  promise  to  a  boat-and-sledge 
journey. 

Captain  Albert  H.  Markham  has  in  his  work, 
"A    Polar    Reconnaissance"    (1881),    strongly 


The  Spitzhergen  Route  to  the  Pole.        73 

advocated  the  real  advantages  of  the  Francis- 
Joseph  Land  route,  and  the  opinion  of  no  Arc- 
tic explorer  is  worthy  of  higher  consideration 
than  that  of  the  intrepid  commander  of  the 
"farthest  north"  sledging  party  of  1875-76. 
His  conclusion  is  stated  as  follows:  "From  a 
careful  study  of  all  that  has  been  achieved  in 
the  far  North,  I  am  more  than  ever  convinced 
that  a  greater  amount  of  success  will  be  gained 
by  the  exploration  of  the  region  in  the  vicinity 
of  Franz  Josef  Land  than  in  any  other  part  of 
the  Arctic  regions"  (p.  319).  In  the  Preface  to 
this  work,  Mr.  Clements  R.  Markham,  for  many 
years  the  unbending  advocate  of  the  Smith 
Sound  route,  gives  in  his  adhesion  to  the  views 
of  Captain  Markham.  "  Here,  therefore,  is  the 
route  for  future  polar  discovery.  Here  an  ad- 
vanced base  may  be  established  within  the  un- 
known region,  whence  scientific  results  of  the 
utmost  interest  will  be  secured :  and  here  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  North  Pole  can  be 
made." 

Note.  Since  the  foregoing  was  sent  to  press 
announcement  has  been  received  that  an  at- 
tempt to  reach  the  Pole  by  way  of  Francis- 
Joseph  Land  will  be  made  this  summer  by  Mr. 
Frederick  G.  Jackson,  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  of  London.  The  plan  of 
journey,  as  outlined  by  Mr.  Jackson  in  the 
London   Times,  is  as  follows: 

"Franz  Joseph  Land,  according  to  Sir  Allen 


74  The  Arctir  ProhJcm. 

Young  and  other  authorities,  would  be  easily 
accessible  any  ordinary  year,  and  it  is  the  only 
point  where  one  could  establish  a  base  whence 
to  extend  a  secure  line  of  march  northward, 
witli  a  possibility  of  safe  retreat,  if  necessary,  to 
one's  headquarters.  I  propose,  therefore,  to 
avail  myself  of  this  fortunate  fact,  and  sail  this 
summer,  if  possible,  for  the  southern  coast  of 
Franz  Josef  Land.  I  shall  hope  to  arrive  there 
in  time  to  make  a  rapid  reconnoitre  northward 
(and  perhaps  reach  a  point  further  north  than 
the  Austrian  limit)  before  moving  into  winter 
quarters,  In  the  following  year  I  have  every 
expectation  of  being  able  to  push  forward  with 
a  considerable  quantity  of  stores  and  establish  a 
second  depot,  probably  in  or  about  the  84th  or 
85th  degree.  Having  there  established  a  base 
in  this  high  latitude,  I  shall  have  ample  time,  I 
believe,  to  make  a  third  march  northward 
(should  there  be  land  beyond  this  limit).  If 
there  be  land,  this  third  march  should  enable 
me  to  establish  a  third  depot,  within  200  miles 
of  the  Pole,  and  here  I  should  winter.  I 
should  then  have  the  whole  of  the  next  sum- 
mer in  which  to  seize  the  opportunity  to  make 
a  push  to  the  ultimate  object  of  the  expedition. 
If  there  be  not  land  northward  of  the  second 
depot  (84  degrees)  I  should  hope  to  firmly 
establish  myself  there  for  the  winter,  and  pre- 
pare to  make  the  necessary  forward  advance 
in  the  next  spring.     But  for  all  that  is  known 


The  Spifzhcrr/rn   Roiife  to  the  Pole.         75 

to  the  contrary,  Franz  Josef  Land  may  extend 
even  to  the  Pole.  Should  this  be  the  case, 
one  summer  with  fair  weather  may  prove  suf- 
ficient. I  propose  to  attempt  this  with  a  small 
party  of  not  more  than  ten  men.  We  should 
have  light  equipment,  sledges,  dogs,  etc.  By 
establishing  a  chain  of  depots,  I  may  point  out 
that  we  should  escape  the  burden  of  carrying 
with  us  a  large  quantity  of  stores  and  provisions 
at  the  very  time  when  we  should  wish  to 
move  most  rapidly." 

The  results  of  this  venture  will  certainly  be 
awaited  with  much  interest.  If  carried  out 
with  a  strict  observance  of  the  necessities  and 
possibilities  which  the  modern  Arctic  study  has 
developed,  and  under  the  force  of  that  patient 
energy  which  so  triumphantly  bore  the  British 
pennant  across  the  ice-fields  in  1875,  it  cannot 
easily  ftiil  to  plant  an  important  stepping  stone 
in  the  path  of  Polar  exploration.  To  it  may 
we  confidently  look  for  much  new  light  upon 
the  Arctic  question,  if  not  for  the  absolute  reso- 
lution of  the  problem  itself. 


JSL 


A  GREENLAND  OFFICIALS  WIFE. 
(Mrs.  Sofia  Baumann) 


IV. 

The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

On  June  6, 1891,  the  good  ship  Kite,  a  bark- 
entine  whaler  of  the  old  type,  and  measuring 
barely  forty  yards  in  length,  lay  alongside  one 
of  the  busy  Brooklyn  wharves,  eagerly  scanned 
by  hundreds  of  eyes  for  the  little  that  distin- 
guished her  from  the  neighboring  craft.  Neat- 
ness or  cleanliness  was  not  a  characteristic  of 
the  vessel,  for  she  still  bore  traces  of  seal-strife 
and  struggles  among  the  ice  of  Newfoundland's 
coast. 

To  certain  peculiarities  of  structure  was  ad- 
ded a  suggestion  of  the  odor  of  oil  and  blub- 
ber, and  if  these  were  not  in  themselves  suffi- 
cient to  indicate  the  rank  of  the  vessel,  it  could 
readily  have  been  told  from  the  iron  bow-cap, 
and  that  singular  aerial  castle  known  as  the 
crow's  nest.  However  insignificant  and  hum- 
ble the  Kite  may  have  appeared  beneath  the 
tall  hulls  and  masts  that  surrounded  her,  she 
bore  a  trim  side  to  the  waters  of  an  open  sea, 
and  in  her  adopted  port  of  St.  John's  she  is  a 
craft  with  a  history  and  a  name. 

Prior  to  the  date  above  mentioned,  the  most 
distinguished  name  associated  with  the  vessel 
was  that  of  her  then  master,  Captain  Richard 


80  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

Pike,  a  sea-dog  devoid  of  those  characteristics 
which  entitle  one  to  the  designation  of  "bluff," 
but  who,  despite  this  deficiency,  had  already, 
on  two  occasions,  done  service  among  the  ice- 
fields of  the  far  north.  To  his  hands,  as  ice- 
master,  the  Government  in  1881  entrusted  the 
fate  of  the  Proteus — the  ship  which  conveyed 
the  Greely  party  to  their  point  of  location,  near 
the  eighty-second  parallel,  which  was  destined 
to  serve  as  a  home  of  desolation  for  a  period  of 
three  years. 

In  1883,  on  the  organization  of  the  second 
Greely  Relief  Expedition,  under  Lieutenant 
Garlington,  Pike  was  again  pressed  into  Arctic 
service  as  the  ice-master  of  the  relief-ship  Pro- 
teus, the  crushing  of  which  among  the  ice-floes 
of  Smith  Sound,  off  Cape  Sabine,  has  become  a 
matter  of  history.  The  ten  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  day  of  the  disaster  have  not 
yet  sufficed  to  wipe  off  the  cloud  from  the  gen- 
ial tar's  brow,  over  which  the  shadows  of  fifty- 
three  years  have  now  gathered.  A  quiet  re- 
solve never  again  to  enter  the  Arctic  seas  was 
brushed  aside  when,  in  1891,  the  Kite  was 
chartered  to  convey  the  expedition  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  to  the 
Greenland  waters,  and  a  demand  made  for  the 
services  of  an  experienced  ice-master  and  pilot. 

The  Kite  left  her  anchorage  among  the 
Brookl3'n  hulks  on  the  afternoon  of  June  6th, 
carrying  as  her  passenger  list  the   members  of 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  81 

the    Peary    party— Civil-Engineer   Robert    E. 

Peary,  U.  S.  N.,  Josephine  Diebitsch-Peary,  Dr. 

F.  A.  Cook,  Langclon  Gibson,  Eiwind  Astrup, 

John  T.  Verhoeff,  and  Matthew  Henson— and 

an  auxiliary  body  of  "summer"  investigators, 

to  which  the  writer  had  the  advantage  to  be 

attached.     After  varying  incidents  of  one  form 

or  another,  the  good  little  craft  put  in  at  God- 

havn,  the  capital  of  the  Northern  Inspectorate 

of  Greenland,  on  June    27th,    and  on  July  2d, 

almost   exactly   opposite  the  Devil's    Thumb,' 

buried    her   nose  in    the    pack-ice  of  Melville 

Bay,   from    which   she   was   destined   not   to 

emerge  until  three  weeks  later. 

It  was    during  the   traverse  of  this   ice,  on 
July  11th,    that   Lieutenant  Peary   met  with 
that  mishap— the  breaking  of  the  lower  right 
leg,  which  came  near  to  shattering   the  enter- 
prise upon  which  the  commander  had  for  years 
set  his  mind.     In  a  constitution  less  vigorous, 
and  a  mind  less  heroic,  such  an  accident  would 
have   annihilated    all    aspirations  for   success, 
even  in  the  most  favored   undertaking  ;  but  to 
Mr.  Peary   and  his  gallant  wife,  it  was'  but  an 
incident,  the  passage  of  which  was  to  be  deter- 
mined only  by  future  events.     On  July  24th. 
the    Kite   reached    McCormick    Bay,    on    the 
southern  shores  of  which,  and  in  the  shadows 
of  the   bright-red   cliffs  which  make  up  much 
of  what  belongs  to  Cape    Cleveland,  the  Peary 
winter-quarters  were  established.    Many  pleas- 


82  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

ant  memories  attach  to  the  little  retreat  be- 
neath the  boards  and  tar-papers  of  the  Redcliffe 
House,  where  probably  was  passed  the  most 
comfortable  and  homelike  winter  in  the  far 
north  which  it  has  been  the  lot  of  Arctic  ex- 
plorers to  experience.  On  July  30th,  the  Kite, 
with  the  auxiliary  party  aboard,  steamed  out 
of  McCormick  Bay,  leaving  the  North  Green- 
land Expedition  to  shift  for  itself  during  the 
many  months  which  were  to  follow  before 
contact  with  civilization  could  again  be  made 
possible.  It  was  during  these  months,  extend- 
ing from  August  to  May,  that  those  careful 
studies  of  possibilities  were  made  which  have 
rendered  practicable  the  most  remarkable  ice- 
journey  that  has  ever  been  undertaken,  and 
brought  to  the  geographer  the  solution  of  one 
of  the  few  significant  problems  which  remained 
open  to  him.  Greenland  has  been  demon- 
strated to  be  an  island,  whose  general  north- 
ern contours  lie  south  of  the  eighty-third  par- 
allel. 

Probably  no  scientific  expedition  originating 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  has  attracted  more 
general  attention  than  the  one  which  Mr.  Peary 
has  but  recently  brought  to  a  successful  termi- 
nation. Its  special  feature,  the  traverse  in  a 
due  geographical  course  of  nearly  four  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  inland  ice,  was  the  pivot 
about  which  much  of  this  interest  centred. 
The  bold  manner  in  which  the  expedition  had 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  83 

been  conceived,  involving  an  almost  total  de- 
parture from  the  methods  that  liad  been  fol- 
lowed by  all  previous  expeditions  to  the  far 
north,  and  the  circumstance  that  the  party  of 
exploration  had  been  reduced  to  less  than  a 
handful  of  men,  lent  additional  interest  to  the 
enterprise.  To  the  scientist  the  interest  was 
more  than  a  purely  sentimental  one.  The  suc- 
cessful issue  of  the  expedition  meant  the  solu- 
tion of  some  of  the  most  perplexing  problems 
which  were  yet  open  to  the  investigator.  The 
conditions  which  determined  the  limitation  of 
man's  habitation  on  the  globe,  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  great  Greenland  ice-cap,  and  its 
relation  to  the  ice  accumulation  of  the  Glacial 
Period,  and  the  distribution  of  plants  and 
animal  forms  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  ice- 
cap itself,  were  the  topics  of  special  scientific 
interest  which  linked  themselves  with  the  main 
geographical  inquiry — the  determination  of 
Greenland's  northernmost  boundaries. 

The  only  weak  point  of  the  Peary  Expedi- 
tion was  the  failure  to  make  adequate  provision 
for  a  return  to  civilization  after  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  inland  journey.  It  was  the  in- 
tention of  the  leader  to  make  his  way  leisurely 
down  the  coast  in  open  whale-boats — two  of 
which  had  been  specially  constructed  for  the 
purpose — and  dare  the  ice  and  storms  of  Mel- 
ville Bay  as  he  had  dared  the  winds  and  snows 
of  the  inland   ice,    from   the  sea-level  to  8,000 


84  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

feet  elevation.  Once  across  the  Bay,  the 
journey  could  be  readily  continued  to  Uperni- 
vik  or  Godhavn.  The  passage  in  open  boats 
of  Melville  Bay  has  been  accomplished,  either 
in  whole  or  in  part,  on  several  occasions — by 
Kane,  in  1855  ;  by  Bessels  and  Buddington, 
in  their  retreat  from  the  Polaris,  in  1873  ;  by 
Pike  and  Garlington,  in  their  retreat  from  the 
Proteus,  in  1883 — but  always  with  great  diffi- 
culty, and  under  the  guidance  of  an  ample 
force  of  able-bodied  men.  In  the  present  in- 
stance, the  party,  including  the  courageous 
wife  of  the  commander,  numbered  but  seven 
members,  too  limited  in  strength,  probably,  to 
undertake  the  risks  which  the  journey  entailed. 
Under  the  circumstances  it  seemed  eminently 
proper  that  assistance  be  rendered  to  the  re- 
turning party,  and  it  was  with  a  just  apprecia- 
tion of  this  position  that  the  Philadelphia 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  undertook  the 
organization  of  a  Relief  Expedition. 

Under  my  command,  as  leader  of  the  Ex- 
pedition, were  associated  Henry  G.  Bryant,  the 
successful  explorer  of  the  Grand  Falls  of  Lab- 
rador, second  in  command ;  Dr.  Jackson  M. 
Mills,  surgeon  ;  William  E.  Meehan,  botanist ; 
Charles  E.  Hite,  zoological  preparator ;  Samuel 
J.  Entrikin ;  Frank  W.  Stokes,  artist ;  and 
Albert  White  Vorse,  most  of  whom  had  already 
been  tried  in  mountain  or  camp  work  of  a  more 
or  less   arduous   nature.     The  Kite  was  again 


The  Peary  Rrlicf  Expedition.  Ho 

chartered  as  the  vessel   of  the  expedition,  and 
with    her,    tlie    tried    captain  of  the   Proteus, 
Richard  Pike.     The    possihihties  of  the  Relief 
Expedition    were    such    that   no  anticipatory 
plan  of  action,  except  as  it  was  indicated  in  its 
broadest  details,   could  be  determined  upon  as 
a  finality.     The  contingencies  that  might  pre- 
sent themselves  were    too   numerous  to  permit 
of  simple   resolution,   and    therefore  full  scope 
was  given   the    expedition  to  meet  the  exigen- 
cies of   the    moment.     It  was,    however,    con- 
sidered a  necessity  to  pass  Melville  Bay  at  the 
earliest  possible  time  consistent  with  an  assur- 
able  amount  of  safety   to  the   vessel,  as  once 
beyond   the    ice    and    waters   of    that   much- 
dreaded  section  of  the  Arctic  world  the  passage 
to    McCormick    Bay   could  be  made    without 
hindrance  of  any  kind.     The  experience  that 
has  been  brought  down  from  the  various  Arctic 
expeditions,  and   more   particularly    from   the 
different  whalers   which   every   year   traverse 
much  of  the  northern   icy  seas,  has  infused  an 
element   of  certainty   into    Arctic    navigation 
which  could  hardly  have  been  realized  by  the 
heroes  of  a  period  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
ago.     The  capture,  by  the  Melville  Bay  pack, 
of  McClintock's  Fox  in  the   latter    part  of  Au- 
gust, 1857,  could  scarcely  be  paralleled  to-day, 
except   as    the  outcome  of  ignorance  or  disre- 
gard of  every-day    knowledge.     In  an  average 
season  Melville  Bay  can  be  traversed  about  as 


86  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

readily  as  almost  any  large  body  of  water  lying 
southward,  while  its  earliest  seasonal  passage 
can  be  predicated  with  a  precision  almost  akin 
to  mathematical  calculation.  The  hard  pack- 
ice  which  has  accumulated  as  the  result  of  the 
winter's  frost,  and  has  to  an  extent  been  held 
together  through  the  large  bergs  which  are 
here  and  there  scattered  through  it,  usually 
shows  the  first  signs  of  weakness  between  July 
10th  and  20th.  Large  cakes  or  pans  of  ice 
have  by  that  time  succumbed  to  the  powerful 
oceanic  currents  that  are  directed  against  them, 
and  detaching  themselves  from  the  parent  mass, 
float  off  to  find  new  havens  of  their  own.  The 
weakening  process  continues  until  most  of  the 
ice  has  been  either  removed  or  melted  away, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  fourth  week  of 
July  little  beyond  shore-ice  (shore-pan)  re- 
mains to  indicate  the  barrier  which  but  a  few 
days  before  rendered  a  passage  all  but  imprac- 
ticable. The  trend  of  the  ice  is  northwestward 
through  the  Bay,  then  westward  to  the  Amer- 
ican side,  and  finally  south  to  the  open  sea.  It 
was  tlie  purpose  of  the  Relief  Expedition  to 
reach  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Melville 
Bay  pack  on  or  about  the  20th  of  the  month, 
and  there  watch  the  movements  of  the  ice  until 
the  opportunity  for  action  arrived.  An  earlier 
traverse  might  possibly  have  been  made  through 
persistent  "butting"  of  the  ice,  but  the  dangers 
incident  to  this   form  of  navigation  were  such 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  87 

as   to  render   slowness  a  prudent   measure    of 
safety. 

At  2.30  of  the  afternoon  of  July  5th  the  hiss 
of  the  siren  announced  to  the  loiterers  on  the 
wharves  of  Newfoundland's  capital  that  the 
Kite  was  about  to  depart  on  her  second  voyage 
to  the  Arctic  seas.  A  few  moments  later  the 
vessel  swung  from  her  wharf,  and  amid  a 
chorus  of  hurrahs  and  the  shrill  accom- 
paniments of  steam-whistles,  started  on  her 
mission  of  good-will  northward.  The  bold 
sandstone  cliffs  guarding  the  entrance  to  St. 
John's  Harbor,  aglow  with  the  warm  sunshine 
of  a  "typical"  day,  were  soon  dropped  in  the 
rear,  albeit  the  rate  of  travel  was  somewhat 
less  than  seven  knots  an  hour.  Few  of  the  St. 
John's  sealers  are  rated  for  more  than  nine  or 
ten  knots;  of  the  entire  fleet  the  Kite  is  about 
the  least  swift,  but  what  she  lacks  in  this  regard 
is  more  than  compensated  for  by  a  staunchness 
of  construction  and  a  commodiousness  of  de- 
sign which  render  her  specially  adapted  for 
the  purpose  for  which  she  was  selected. 
The  first  few  days  of  the  voyage  were  wholly 
uneventful,  and  almost  without  incident.  In 
the  afternoon  of  the  10th,  after  heavy  fogs  had 
largely  obscured  our  course,  suspicious  cakes  of 
ice  indicated  a  near  approach  to  the  Greenland 
coast.  At  midnight  of  the  11th,  when  a  rift 
in  the  fog  first  revealed  the  presence  of  Green- 
land's  serrated   mountains,  the  guard-rails  of 


88  The  Pccmj  Relief  Expedition. 

the  vessel  were  almost  overtopped  by  the  ice ; 
fortunately  the  pans  were  not  sufficiently 
packed  to  cause  serious  alarm  for  our  posi- 
tion, despite  the  disagreeable  feature  which 
the  presence  of  an  ever-falling  fog  added. 

The  point  of  the  Greenland  coast  opposite 
to  our  position  was  approximately  the  great 
Frederikshaab  glacier,  one  of  the  most  gigantic 
of  the  almost  endless  number  of  ice-sheets 
which  radiate  off  from  the  inland  ice  to  or 
toward  the  sea.  In  the  passage  of  this  portion 
of  the  coast  the  summer  previous  no  sea-ice  be- 
yond freely  floating  bergs  was  encountered,  but 
in  the  present  year  the  ice  extended  fully  sev- 
enty miles  farther  northward,  and,  as  subse- 
quent events  showed,  it  was  the  heaviest  accu- 
mulation that  had  been  known  for  several 
decades.  The  southern  ports  of  Greenland  had 
for  weeks  been  inaccessible,  while  the  vessels  of 
the  cryolite  fleet,  for  two  months  or  more,  had 
found  scant  quarters  amid  the  jam  that  was 
impending.  Wreckage  appeared  in  scattered 
masses,  and  intelligence  of  disaster  turned  up 
everywhere.  The  Kite  finally  extricated  her- 
self shortly  before  noon  of  the  12th,  when 
about  opposite  Lichtenfels,  the  northernmost 
point  which  the  lower  or  Cape  Farewell  ice  is 
known  to  attain. 

Fog  and  rain  followed  the  expedition  for 
another  thirty-six  hours,  but  on  the  morning  of 
the  14th  day  broke  with  a  splendor  and  lumi- 


TJie  Pnu-ij  Rdicf  Expedition.  89 

nosity  unknown  to  regions  outside  of  the  Arc- 
tic Circle.     The  Greenland    coast  loomed   up 
brilliant  for  a  length  of  a  hundred  miles  or 
more,  its  rugged    mountain   peaks,  here   and 
there  flecked  by  the  snows  of  lingering  winter, 
or  forever  shrouded  in  the  white  mantle  of  a 
perpetual  ice-cap,  forming  a  continuous  pano- 
rama not  unlike  what  is  presented  to  the  ob- 
server from   the   lower  mountain  summits  of 
Switzerland.     It  is  true  that  the  loftiest  peaks 
are  here  but  four  or  five  thousand  feet  in  eleva- 
tion, but  the  absence  of  foreground   and   the 
low  descent  of  the  snow^-line  combine  to  pro- 
duce an  exaggerated   optical   effect  which   is 
most  delusory,  a  deception  that  is  only  further 
strengthened  by  the  Hmiier  and  aiguilles  which 
everywhere  recall  the  Alps.  It  is  Switzerland  in 
miniature,  with  a  smooth,  glassy  sea  to  receive 
the  reflections  which  in  old  Helvetia  bathe  in 
the  waters  of  her  deep  blue  lakes.     Seventy 
miles  to  the  northward  a  slight  heaving  of  the 
horizon  indicated  the  position  of  the  basaltic 
cliffs  of  Disko  Island,  under  the  lee  of  which 
are  nestled  the  few  huts  and  houses  which  to- 
gether constitute  the  capital  of  the  Northern 
Inspectorate  of  Greenland,  Godhavn  or  Lieve- 
ly.     The  average  mind   which  conceives  of  a 
journey  to  the  far  north  as  being  one  of  only 
hardships  and  terror,  finds  it  difficult  to  realize 
that  this  is  the   "land  beyond  the  Arctic  Cir- 
cle;"   the     warm    sunshine,   the    placid    sea, 


90  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

and  the  absence,  except  in  scattered  flecks,  of 
those  impending  bergs  which  have  fastened 
themselves  as  time-honored  necessities  upon 
the  eye  of  the  imagination,  fail  to  do  justice  to 
the  modern  conception  of  the  Arctic  world. 
The  temperature  at  8  a.  m.  was  45°  F.,  but  at 
noon  it  had  risen  to  50°  F.,  and  in  the  sun  the 
station  of  the  mercury  among  the  seventies 
did  away  with  all  thoughts  concerning  wraps 
and  heavy  underwear. 

At  5.30  in  the  afternoon  we  arrived  off  God- 
havn,  and  shortly  afterward  passed  through 
the  formality  of  taking  on  a  pilot — an  Eskimo 
of  unmistakably  European  lineage.  Swarthy 
Frederick,  the  interpreter  to  the  British  Polar 
Expedition  of  1875-76,  and  the  associate  of 
Peary  in  1886,  was  among  the  first  to  greet  us, 
bringing  with  him  a  number  of  his  tribe,  young 
and  old — but  all  males,  as  no  females  are  per- 
mitted to  board  the  incoming  vessels — prepared 
to  partake  of  a  lasting  hospitality  of  the  ship's 
steward,  and  to  effect  such  barter  as  would 
yield  to  them  the  advantage  of  a  few  krones 
or  of  a  shirt  or  pair  of  pantaloons.  The  latter 
article  was  prized  beyond  measure,  but  its  ac- 
ceptance was  dependent  wholly  upon  a  proved 
freedom  from  holes  and  patches.  Danish  sov- 
ereignty has  long  since  infused  a  civilized 
aspect  into  the  costume  of  the  southern  Eski- 
mos, and  hence  the  demand  for  articles  which 
would  be  scorned  by  most  of  their  brethren  of 


7 he  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  91 

the   north ;  European  trousers  and  a  blue  cot- 
ton outer  shirt  or  anorak  now  take  tlie  place,  as 
a  summer  attire,  of  the  seal  garments  which 
were  a  necessity  in  the  antecedent  periods  of 
barbaric   existence.      Among   those    who    had 
come  out  with  the  first  boat-load  of  visitors  to 
the  Kite  was  an  old  Eskimo  who  had  in  1870 
conducted    Nordcnskjold   to   the  famous  "me- 
teoritic"   region  of  the  Blaaberg,  on  Disko  Is- 
land, whence  were  obtained  the  large  blocks  of 
native  iron,  commonly   known  as  the  iron  of 
Ovifak    or    Uifak,   concerning   the    origin   of 
which,  whether  meteoric  or  telluric,  so  much 
has  been  written  and  argued  by  geologists  and 
mineralogists.     1  was  at  the  identical  locality 
with  the  same  Eskimo  in  the  summer  of  1891, 
and  fortune  threw  in  our  path  a  stone  of  some 
two  hundred  and  seventy  pounds  weight,  for 
which  a  reward  of  £b  was  given.     Suspecting 
that  there  might  be  a  return  expedition  this 
year,  the  Eskimos  had  shrewdly  made  a  further 
examination  of  the  desolate  spot,  with  the  re- 
sult of  finding  a  number  of  additional  blocks 
of  the  desired  material ;  these  had  been   care- 
fully placed  to  one  side  awaiting  my  return, 
and  were  now  placed  at  my  disposal,  together 
with    much  other   geological    material    that  it 
was  thought  I  might  be  interested  in. 

Our  purpose  in  putting  in  at  Godhavn  was 
primarily  the  presentation  of  official  credentials 
from  the  Danish  Government,  and  the  obtain- 


92  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

ing  of  certain  effects  which  were  considered 
desirable  for  the  expedition.  Godhavn,  or,  as 
it  is  commonly  known  to  geographers,  Disko, 
as  the  capital  of  the  Northern  Inspectorate  of 
Greenland,  is  the  official  seat  of  one  of  the  two 
highest  dignitaries  of  the  land,  the  Inspector. 
Of  a  population  counting  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  souls,  some  fifteen  are  Danes, 
and  the  remainder  almost  entirely  half-breed 
Eskimos;  not  more  than  seven  full-blooded 
natives  are  recognized  among  the  inhabitants, 
of  which  number  is  the  Frederick  already 
referred  to.  A  first  impression  of  this  singular 
settlement  is  not  calculated  to  inspire  enthusi- 
asm for  a  prolonged  residence  in  the  "land  of 
desolation."  A  few  wooden  structures,  com- 
prising a  church,  the  government  building  or 
general  store,  and  the  residences  of  the  Danish 
officials,  together  with  a  somewhat  larger  num- 
ber of  green-grown  and  chimneyed  turf  huts 
of  the  Eskimos,  crown  a  dreary  expanse  of 
granite  and  syenite,  over  whose  surfaces  the  ice 
of  former  ages  ploughed  its  way  to  the  sea. 
Everywhere  the  effects  of  past  glaciation  are 
plainly  written.  No  trees  of  any  kind  shadow 
the  sunlight  from  a  perpetual  summer  sun ;  no 
song  of  bird,  save  the  occasional  chirp  of  the 
snow-bunting  and  wheatear,  responds  to  the 
wakening  calls  of  morning.  The  melancholy 
bark  of  a  dozen  or  more  of  shapely  curs — not, 
however,  the  awe-inspiring  and  night-destroy- 


The   Peary  Relief  Expedition.  93 

ing  howl  of  books  of  travel,  but  the  more  sub- 
dued tones  of  reality — alone  indicates  possession 
of  the  town.  Cheerfulness,  save  in  the  bright 
sunshine  which  here  illumines  all  nature, 
seems  to  have  forever  deserted  the  locality. 

But  this  first  impression  almost  immediately 
disappears  through  closer  acquaintance.  Once 
the  foot  has  been  set  upon  the  mirrored  rocks, 
the  charms  of  this  garden  spot  one  by  one  un- 
fold themselves.  The  little  patches  of  green 
are  aglow  with  bright  flowers,  rich  in  the  colors 
which  a  bounteous  nature  has  provided  ;  the 
botanical  eye  readily  distinguished  among 
these  the  mountain-pink,  the  dwarf  rhododen- 
dron, several  species  of  heath,  the  crow-foot, 
chickweed,  and  poppy,  with  their  varying 
tints  of  green,  red,  white,  and  yellow.  Gay 
butterflies  flit  through  the  warm  sunshine, 
casting  their  shadows  over  "forests"  of  diminu- 
tive birch  and  willow.  Here  and  there  a  stray 
bee  hums  its  search  for  sweets  among  the  pollen 
grains,  while  from  afar,  woven  through  the 
music  of  gurgling  rills  and  brooks,  come  the 
melodious  strains  of  thousands  of  mosquitoes, 
who  ever  cheerfully  lend  their  aid  to  give  voice 
to  the  landscape.  Above  this  peaceful  scene 
tower  the  dark-red  cliffs  of  basalt,  which  from 
a  height  of  two  thousand  feet  look  down  upon 
a  sea  of  Mediterranean  loveliness,  blue  as  the 
waters  of  Villafranca,  and  calm  as  the  surface 
of  an  interior  lake.     Over  its  bosom  float  hun- 


94  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

dreds  of  ice-bergs,  the  output  of  the  great 
Jakobshavii  Glacier,  fifty  miles  to  the  eastward, 
scattered  like  flocks  of  white  sheep  in  a  pasture. 
Such  was  the  summer  picture  of  the  region 
about  Disko  as  it  was  found  by  the  writer  in 
two  successive  seasons.  There  was  little  of 
that  Greenland  about  it  which  we  habitually 
associate  with  the  region,  nothing  of  those  ter- 
rors which  to  the  average  mind  reflect  the  qual- 
ity of  the  Arctic  world. 

Dreary  though  a  long  residence  may  prove 
to  be  at  a  spot  like  Godhavn,  there  is  y^i  seem- 
ingly enough  comfort  in  it  to  make  it  attract- 
ive to  the  Danish  officials  who  reside  there. 
The  neat  little  cottages,  well  supplied  with 
those  appliances  and  adjuncts — such  as  a  li- 
brary, piano,  and  billiard-room — which  conduce 
to  a  home-like  comfort,  are  not  in  absolute 
harmony  with  their  surroundings,  but  they 
bear  testimony  to  an  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment governing  the  household  which  come 
with  a  rude  shock  to  those  who  had  expected 
to  meet  with  at  best  only  half-barbarians  in 
this  remote  quarter  of  the  globe.  It  was  an  al- 
most inexpressible  pleasure  for  me  to  see  the 
geraniums,  fuchsias,  and  roses  which  the  good 
people  were  here  raising  behind  double  win- 
dows or  under  glass  covers,  and  fondling  with 
a  care  only  equalled  by  the  interest  with  which 
they  pursued  the  general  subject  of  Greenland 
zoology,  or  followed  the  recent  explorations  of 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  95 

men  like  Ryder,  Stanley,  Holub,  and  Peters. 
Herr  Inspector  Andersson,  whose  hospitality  I 
had  already  enjoyed  the  summer  previous,  was 
absent  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  having  but  a 
few  days  before  gone  to  Upcrnivik  to  adjust 
some  matters  in  connection  with  the  govern- 
ment there.  Mrs.  Andersson  and  her  daush- 
ter,  however,  gave  us  a  kindly  welcome,  which 
was  reinforced  through  the  good  offices  of  the 
Governor  and  his  assistant.  A  determination 
to  aid  our  expedition  to  the  fullest  extent  pos- 
sible was  made  manifest  from  the  moment  that 
our  arrival  was  officially  announced. 

We  secured  some  fur  clothing  for  our  equip- 
ment, and  what  we  thought  to  be  of  greater 
importance  to  ourselves,  the  services  of  an 
Eskimo  interpreter  and  servant,  Daniel  Johan- 
nes Matthias  Isaiah  Broberg,  a  nephew  of  the 
wealthiest  native  of  Godhavn,  and  brother  of 
Nicholas  Broberg,  who  in  1883  acted  in  a  like 
capacity  for  the  second  Greely  Relief  Expedi- 
tion. Daniel,  like  most  of  the  Eskimos  of  God- 
havn, was  inordinately  fond  of  his  tobacco,  and 
it  was  rarely  that  he  was  to  be  found  without 
his  pipe;  speaking,  eating,  or  sleeping,  his  pipe 
appeared  to  be  his  most  faithful  and  constant 
companion.  The  stipulations  of  our  contract 
with  him  were,  that  he  was  to  receive  £3  10s. 
per  month;  that  he  was  not  to  receive  any 
orders  from  the  ship's  men  ;  not  to  be  obliged 
to  draw,  by  himself,  a  sledge   over  the  inland 


96  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

ice ;  to  be  remunerated  for  the  breakage  of  an 
arm  or  leg,  or  for  other  bodily  mutilation  ;  to 
be  returned  to  Godhavn.  These  stipulations, 
which  were  exacted  from  a  fear  of  ill-treatment 
engendered  through  experiences  associated 
with  former  expeditions,  and  which  have  made 
it  all  but  impossible  to  secure  the  services  of 
any  of  the  Eskimos  of  the  Inspectorate,  were 
supplemented  with  a  special  recommendation 
for  a  pair  of  pantaloons. 

At  1.30  p.  M.  of  the  16th  we  fired  our  part- 
ing salute,  and  dipping  our  colors  to  the  ship 
Constancia,  which  was  then  lying  in  port, 
slowly  withdrew  from  the  shadow  of  the  tall 
cliffs  which  give  to  the  harbor  its  most  impres- 
sive aspect.  Our  destination  was  Upernivik, 
the  most  northerly  of  the  Danish  settlements, 
and  the  most  northern  settlement  of  civil- 
ization on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  We  re- 
mained here  but  a  few  hours,  our  sole  pur- 
pose being  the  exchange  of  civilities  with  the 
Danish  officials  resident  there.  Herr  Inspect- 
or Andersson  and  Governor  and  Mrs.  Beyei 
extended  to  us  an  open-hearted  welcome,  and 
with  it  the  full  hospitality  which  their  house 
offered. 

A  more  exquisite  day  than  that  which 
marked  our  departure  from  Upernivik  could 
scarcely  be  conceived.  The  white  lumps  of 
ice  which  almost  choked  the  harbor,  and  tht 
glare  from    whose   surfaces   fairly  dazzled  the 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  97 

eye,  were  a  marked  contrast  to  the  delicious 
warmth  which  was  supplied  by  an  Arctic  o2°. 
Desolate  fogs,  however,  broke  in  upon  the 
evening  and  night,  and  it  was  not  until  two 
o'clock  of  the  following  afternoon  (the  19tli) 
that  we  were  enabled  to  make  a  landing  on 
the  outer  Duck  Island.  The  Devil's  Thumb, 
that  most  notable  landmark,  2,347  feet  in  ele- 
vation, on  the  western  coast  of  Greenland, 
should  have  been  made  before  midnight ;  but 
the  ice-bound  fogs  obliged  a  halt  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  evening  and  night  hours. 
The  twentieth  of  the  month,  the  day  that  had 
been  fixed  upon  for  our  arrival  at  Melville 
Bay,  actually  found  us  there,  and  we  stood 
confronting  the  northern  ice. 

No  real  difficulty  was  encountered  in  the 
passage  of  this  much  dreaded  region  of  the 
Arctic  waters.  An  accumulation  of  shore-ice 
prevented  us  from  following  the  coast  in  the 
track  of  the  daring  whalers,  but  about  twenty- 
five  miles  seaward  comparatively  little  heavy 
ice,  beyond  broken  and  rotten  pans,  was  en- 
countered, and  were  it  not  for  a  continuous 
lowering  fog,  little  hindrance  to  a  free  naviga- 
tion would  have  been  presented.  My  note-book 
thus  narrates  our  progress  : 

"We  find  solid  shore  ice  stretching  far  out  to 
sea,  through  which  it  is  impossible  to  find  a 
passage.  Attempt  a  more  westerly  course, 
some  twenty-five  miles  from  shore,  and  enter 


98  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

open  water.  At  8  o'clock  (a.  m.)  we  are  mak- 
ing good  headway;  thermometer  33°.  The 
water  is  now  as  smooth  as  a  mirror,  with  only 
the  smallest  ripples  to  break  its  surface.  Ice- 
bergs glisten  at  almost  all  points  of  the  com- 
pass, but  they  are  not  numerous.  An  ominous 
"ice-blink"  shows  up  in  the  west,  and  under  it 
the  mate  announces  much  ice.  It  seems  after 
all  that  we  are  not  destined  to  make  an  abso- 
lutely clear  passage  of  the  Melville  Bay.  At 
10.30  we  strike  outliers  of  the  ice — rotten 
cakes,  which  we  cut  through  without  mercy. 
The  ice,  however,  thickens,  and  by  eleven  we 
get  into  uncomfortable  quarters  with  a  solid 
unbroken  pan,  from  whose  presence  we  igno- 
miniously  retreat.  We  try  still  further  to  the 
westward,  rounding  the  pan,  and  are  again  in 
the  open  sea,  or  rather  in  a  lead  one  or  miles 
in  width  between  the  two  pans.  The  ice. 
while  unbroken,  is  not  thick — one  and  a  half  to 
two  feet — and  has  rotted  above  and  below. 
Large  bergs  are  moored  in  its  midst,  holding  it, 
doubtless.  Shortly  before  noon  we  are  momen- 
tarily halted  by  the  ice ;  start  again,  pushing 
around  the  cakes,  and  taking  a  generally  north- 
west course.  Too  hazy  for  noon  observations; 
we  haul  up  again  at  about  4  p.  m.,  and  tie  on  to 
an  ice  pinnacle.  We  are  nosed  to  a  very  large 
unbroken  pan,  which  is  rotten  at  its  borders,  but 
thick,  eight  to  ten  feet  or  more,  further  away. 
Mr.Dunphy,  our  eagle-eyed  second  mate,  shouts 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  99 

"bear,"  and  immediately  there  is  a  general  rush 
for  the  guns.  The  object  responding  to  the  an- 
nouncement from  the  crow's  nest  is  a  blackish 
looking  mass  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  in 
our  lead.  Bear  tracks  show  up  on  the  porte, 
but  the  object  of  our  attention  gradually  passes 
through  a  varied  transmutation  from  bear  to 
walrus,  from  walrus  to  seal  and  finally  to  an 
interrogation  point.  After  tea  Bryant,  Mills, 
Entrikin  and  one  of  the  ship's  men  put  off  on 
the  ice  after  seal,  but  come  back  unsuccessful. 
We  take  fresh  start  about  8  o'clock,  but  do  not 
continue  long,  owing  to  fog  and  ice;  the  ther- 
mometer has  stood  pretty  well  at  33°. 

"The  fog  lifts  at  midnight  and  shows  clear 
water  all  around.  Our  engines  are  again  put 
into  operation  and  the  ship  gets  to  her  course 
at  3  A.  M.,  continuing  at  full  speed  for  about 
four  hours,  when  the  fog  once  more  shuts  down 
upon  us.  Scores  of  seals  lie  about  us  on  the 
distant  floes,  but  unfortunately  the  condition  of 
our  surroundings  renders  them  inaccessible. 
We  grope  along  slowly,  hoping  by  chance  to 
avoid  the  more  formidable  ice-pans  which  have 
been  cast  loose  from  their  moorings  and  are 
now  freely  navigating  in  the  course  of  the  pre- 
vailing winds  and  currents.  Every  break  in 
the  fog  is  taken  advantage  of  for  a  fresh  spurt, 
but  seemingly  each  effort  only  adds  another 
line  to  the  zig-zag  which  we  have  been  con- 
structing.    High  flat-topped  bergs,  the  largest 


100  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

possibly  200-250  feet  in  height,  loom  up  in  the 
distance,  and  their  grouping  suggests  that  the}'^ 
occupy  the  well-known  McClintock  ground  of 
stranded  bergs." 

At  8  A.  M.  of  July  22d  we  were  off  Cape  York, 
and  had  completed  the  passage  of  the  Bay ;  the 
high  land  was  first  sighted  shortly  after  mid- 
night, but  beyond  a  momentary  appearance,  it 
remained  shrouded  in  the  heavy  fog  until  the 
early  hours  of  morning.  Gray  cliffs  of  granite, 
moss-grown  and  grass-grown  on  their  favored 
slopes,  with  here  and  there  a  glacier  peacefully 
slumbering  in  their  deeper  hollows,  mark  the 
exit  from  the  ice-bound  Melville  Bay  to  the 
open  North  Water.  For  sixty  hours  after  leav- 
ing the  Duck  Islands  the  condition  of  the 
weather  had  been  such  that  no  observations 
for  position  could  be  taken ;  our  course  had 
been  one  solely  of  compass  and  dead-reckoning. 
Considering  the  sluggishness  of  the  compass  in 
these  regions,  and  the  almost  endless  number 
of  detours  which  a  course  in  the  fog  among  the 
ice-pans  necessitates,  one  could  not  but  be  im- 
pressed by  the  general  directness  of  the  traverse, 
and  the  exactitude  with  which  it  was  termin- 
ated. Barely  fifty  hours  were  required  for  the 
passage  from  the  Devil's  Thumb  to  Cape  York, 
and  had  there  been  no  fog,  even  with  the  large 
quantity  of  ice  that  was  present,  the  time  would 
l)robably  have  been  reduced  by  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  hours. 


bSKI.WO  t.Hll.DRI:N  Ol-  sol  III  CiRl.LNLAND. 


The  Peary  Relief  Expediti(Pi.  101 

At  the  Eskimo  settlement  a  few  miles  to 
the  eastward  of  Cape  York — the  settlement 
commonly  known  as  that  of  Cape  York — we 
obtained  the  first  information  regarding  the 
Peary  party.  A  shaggily-bearded  Eskimo, 
one  of  the  tallest  and  most  stalwart  of  the  tribe 
of  so-called  Arctic  Highlanders,  measuring 
little  (if  anything)  less  than  six  feet  in  height, 
had  passed  some  part  of  the  winter  about  the 
"Peary  igdloo"  on  McCormick  Bay,  and  conse- 
quently could  state  something  from  personal 
knowledge.  Our  extremely  limited  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Eskimo  tongue,  combined  with 
the  difficulty  with  which  our  interpreter  grasped 
the  sense  of  the  northern  dialect,  made  pro- 
gress in  a  mutual  comprehension  slow  and 
wearisome ;  but  enough  was  made  clear  that  at 
last  accounts,  extending  back  to  a  period  of 
some  four  or  five  months,  the  members  of  the 
party — all  of  whom  were  indicated  by  name — 
were  doing  well.  A  rude  drawing,  represent- 
ing with  fair  precision  the  geographical  con- 
tours of  the  region,  showed  that  they  were  at  that 
time  still  on  McCormick  Bay,  and  provided 
with  both  boats  and  sledges.  Coupled  with 
this  information  we  were  made  to  understand, 
as,  indeed,  we  had  already  known  previous 
to  our  departure — that  one  of  the  vessels  of 
the  Melville  Bay  whaling  fleet  had  been 
crushed  in  the  ice. 

The  arrival  of  the   Kite  at  this  first  outpost 


102  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

of  the  northern  Eskimos  was  the  signal  for 
much  quiet  happiness  on  tlie  part  of  the  na- 
tives. Scarcely  had  the  vessel  made  fast  to  a 
cake  of  ice  before  she  was  boarded  by  the  happy 
people — men,  women,  and  children — who, 
true  to  the  instincts  of  an  honest  nature,  re- 
quired no  invitation  to  bid  them  welcome. 
They  stayed  until  they  had  satisfied  every 
curiosity,  or  until  the  steam  whistle  announced 
the  prospective  departure  of  the  "Oomeakshua" 
— the  "big  woman's  boat,"  as  the  natives  style 
every  large  vessel.  Among  the  visitors  I  re- 
cognized a  number  of  familiar  faces,  but  the 
majority  of  my  associates  of  last  year  seemed 
to  be  absent.  A  limping  old  man  who  had 
been  known  to  Hayes  was  dead,  and  other 
members  of  the  tribe  had  departed. 

A  special  purpose  in  calling  at  the  settle- 
ment of  Cape  York,  or  Ignamine,  was  the  dis- 
tribution among  the  natives  of  gifts  of  charity 
which  had  been  generously  contributed  by  citi- 
zensof  Philadelphia  and  West  Chester.  Boards 
cut  to  the  length  of  sledges,  strips  for  kayak 
frames,  hardware,  and  utensils  of  various 
kinds,  cooking  implements,  etc.,  were  a  part  of 
the  bountiful  cargo  that  was  to  give  joy  and 
wealth  to  a  rugged  people — a  people  to  whom  a 
barrel  stave  or  a  needle  was  an  almost  price- 
less treasure.  Words  fail  to  describe  the  scene 
of  animation  which  marked  the  bestowal  of 
the  awards.    There  were  no  rude  attemps  to  ob- 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  103 

tain  possession  of  any  special  article,  no  bois- 
terous demonstrations  of  superiority;  each 
man  or  woman  received  his  or  her  gifts  with  a 
dignity  and  calm  composure  which  were  truly 
remarkable,  in  view  of  the  wealth  which  the 
presents  conveyed.  Their  expression  of  ex- 
treme delight  was  told  in  a  few  syllables  "  Na, 
na,  na,  nay." 

The  Eskimos  of  the  Melville  Bay  region  and 
of  the  further  north,  the  Itaner  or  Etahnes  of 
Bessels,  to  whom  Ross,  with  singular  inappro- 
priateness,  applied  the  name  of  Arctic  High- 
landers— the  Eskimo  rarely  leaving  the  low 
lands  of  the  sea-border — are,  contrary  to  com- 
mon supposition,  undergoing  no  diminution  in 
numbers.  Indeed,  if  the  estimates  given  by 
earlier  explorers  are  at  all  to  be  relied  upon, 
they  must  be  increasing  in  numbers.  Hayes, 
in  1860,  placed  the  total  population  between 
Cape  York  and  Etah,  the  most  northern  of  the 
native  settlements,  at  about  100  souls,  but  Bes- 
sels, twelve  years  later,  with  the  advantage  of 
an  extended  period  of  observation,  assumed 
that  150  would  more  nearly  approximate  the 
truth.  The  exceedingly  accurate  work  of  Dr. 
Cook,  the  ethnologist  of  the  Peary  Expedition, 
whose  census  comprises  not  only  the  number, 
but  the  names,  relationships,  and  points  of 
location  of  most  of  the  members  of  this  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  people,  increases  the 
number  to  233,  all  of  whom   are  at  this  time 


104  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

located  between  Cape  York  and  the  northern 
shores  of  Robertson  Bay,  or  between  the  paral- 
lels of  75°  56'  and  77°  55'  (77°  45'?)  north  lati- 
tude. The  fact  that  these  Eskimos  are  of  a 
migratory  habit,  changing  their  location  as 
the  conditions  or  the  necessities  of  the  chase  de- 
mand— appearing  now  at  one  point,  and  dis- 
appearing at  another — may  have  given  rise  to 
the  notion  of  impending  extinction,  and  has, 
doubtless,  been  in  a  measure  the  cause  of  the 
discrepancy  in  the  estimates  furnished  by  dif- 
ferent travelers.  When  the  Kite  put  in  at  the 
Cape  York  settlement  in  the  summer  of  1891 
there  were  not  less  than  sixty  natives  settled 
there,  of  which  number  forty-five  were  at  one 
time  on  our  vessel ;  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of 
the  present  expedition  barely  more  than  one 
half  of  this  population  remained ,  a  northerly 
migration,  principally  to  the  settlement  on 
Barden  Bay  (Netlik  or  Netchiolumi,  not  Ittiblu, 
which  is  some  fifteen  miles  further  to  the  east), 
having  robbed  the  locality  to  the  advantage  of 
another.  At  the  locality  just  named  we  found 
a  population  of  41  as  against  the  twelve  of  the 
year  before.  On  the  other  hand,  none  but 
"departed"  traces  were  found  at  Port  Foulke 
and  on  Sonntag  Bay  of  the  so-called  Etah  and 
and  Sorfalik  Eskimos,  whose  pleasant  associa- 
tion with  the  expeditions  of  Kane,  Hayes  and 
Hall  forms  so  bright  a  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Arctic  exploration. 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  105 

After  a  delay  of  a  few  hours,  necessitated  in 
part  by  the  log,  the  Kite  pushed  into  the  Noilh 
Water,  where  no  floes  or  pack-ice  were  encount- 
ered. The  clouds  hung  low  over  the  Crimson 
Cliffs,  but  beneath  them  scattered  •  patclies  of 
snow,  tinted  at  intervals  with  the  red  of  the 
Protococcus  nivalis,  clung  lazily  to  the  moun- 
tain slopes.  Passing  Conical  Rock  at  mid- 
night, the  expedition  steamed  to  Wolstenholme 
Island,  on  the  western  spur  of  which  it  had 
been  prearranged  that  records  should  be  left  by 
Mr.  Peary,  in  the  event  of  a  forced  early  re- 
treat, but  no  cairn  was  discovered.  My  own 
advice  of  the  prospective  Relief  Expedition, 
which  had  been  deposited  on  thie  same  island 
nearly  six  weeks  earlier  (June  13th),  by  Cap- 
tain Phillips,  of  the  whaler  Esquimaux,  was 
picked  up  by  my  men  and  found  to  be  un- 
disturbed. The  party  of  exploration  had  mani- 
festly not  yet  passed  to  the  south.  Shortly 
after  5  a.  m.  (of  the  23d),  the  Kite  shaped  her 
course  to  Whale  Sound,  and  early  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day,  after  discharging  a  second 
cargo  of  charities  to  the  Eskimos  of  Barden 
Bay,  made  the  passage  between  Northumber- 
land and  Herbert  Islands.  Throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  day  there  prevailed  a  balmy 
and  spring-like  temperature  which  was  in 
striking  harmony  with  the  warm,  sunlit  effects 
which  the  landscape  everywhere  presented. 
We  were  less  than  nine  hundred  miles  from  the 


106  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

Pole,  yet  the  thermometer  could  not  be  coaxed 
down  even  to  the  freezing-point;  in  the  sun  the 
mercury  rose  rapidly  to  near  the  60°  line. 
Thousands  of  ice  fragments,  thrown  out  by  one 
of  the  arms  of  the  great  Tyndall  Glacier, 
covered  the  silvered  surface  of  the  sea;  while 
off  in  the  distance  swung  out  in  majestic  line 
the  flotilla  of  bergs  to  which  the  giant  glaciers 
of  Inglefield  Gulf  have  given  birth.  Murchi- 
son  Sound  was  reached  at  ten  o'clock,  and  only 
ten  miles  now  intervened  betw^een  our  ship  and 
the  spot  where,  a  year  before,  the  "West  Green- 
land" party  saw  fashioned  the  wooden  shelter 
which  was  to  give  lodgement  to  the  brave 
seven  who  composed  the  Peary  party.  Ex- 
pectancy is  now  at  full  height,  and  from  every 
point  of  vantage  on  the  vessel  comes  the  de- 
sire to  possess  the  eyes  that  see  the  first  and 
farthest.  The  bow,  the  rigging,  the  bridge, 
and  crow's  nest  are  all  in  active  competition, 
but  the  award  of  victory  is  to  be  withheld  for 
some  time  as  yet.  McCormick  Bay  opens  up 
broadly  to  the  east,  its  moving  ice-field  joining 
with  the  endless  fleet  of  bergs  which  are  slowly 
coursing  to  the  open  sea.  Five  miles  more  are 
covered,  and  the  Kite  plunges  into  the  soft 
pack,  but  no  sign  of  human  life  or  habitation 
is  as  yet  apparent.  Through  the  clear  night 
air  is  sent  the  boom  of  the  ship's  cannon,  but 
only  reverberations  from  the  barren  crags  an- 
swer.    Save  the  occasional  crackling  of  a  feeble 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  107 

iceberg,  and  the  noise  of  the  ship's  machinery, 
all  is  as  quiet  as  the  grave.  A  second  discharge 
follows,  accompanied  by  the  shrill  tones  of  the 
steam-whistle,  but  still  no  answer.  The  red 
cliffs  of  Cape  Cleveland  are  now  near  to  us,  and 
the  range  of  vision,  except  for  an  intercepting 
berg,  covers  the  site  which  we  know  to  be  that 
of  the  Peary  igdloo.  Presently  from  far  aloft 
comes  the  welcome  :  "They  are  answ^ering  us 
with  a  gun."  No  sound  was  audible,  but  the 
keen  eye  of  Second  Mate  Dunphy  had  detected 
smoke.  Three  long  shrieks  from  our  siren,  as 
a  token  of  welcome,  and  the  pennant  swings  to 
the  breeze.  When  the  ship's  thunder  once 
more  broke  the  ominous  silence  a  small  speck 
appeared  upon  the  water's  surface.  "They  are 
coming  to  meet  us  in  a  boat,"  came  the  cry  from 
aloft,  and  the  field-glass  confirmed  the  obser- 
vation from  the  crow's  nest.  In  the  nearing 
boat  were  Verhoeff,  Cook,  and  Gibson,  who  had 
come  with  Eskimo  friends  to  greet  the  strange 
apparitions  from  the  south.  A  half  hour  before 
the  midnight  hour  they  boarded  our  vessel,  and 
we  obtained  from  them  the  happy  tidings  that 
everything  was  well.  Lieutenant  Peary,  who 
had  entirely  recovered  from  the  accident  of 
last  summer,  was  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Kite,  with  young  Astrup,  traversing  the 
vast  wilderness  of  the  inland  ice,  while  the  he- 
roic wife  of  the  commander,  with  Matthew 
Henson,  was  encamped  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 


108  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

some  fifteen  miles  distant,  awaiting  the  return 
of  the  explorers. 

The  members  of  the  Peary  party  who  had 
come  out  to  meet  us  showed  no  signs  of  a 
struggle  with  a  hard  winter.  Their  bronzed 
faces  spoke  more  for  a  perpetual  tropical  sun- 
light than  for  a  sunless  Arctic  night,  the  mem- 
ories of  which  had  long  since  vanished  as  a 
factor  in  their  present  existence.  No  serious 
illness  of  any  kind  had  invaded  the  house- 
hold during  a  twelve  months  absence  from 
civilization.  The  expedition  quarters  presented 
a  very  different  appearance  from  what  they 
did  a  year  before  when  the  Kite  steamed  out 
from  McCormick  Bay.  The  diminutive  two- 
roomed  house,  which  then  stood  solitary  and 
uninviting  in  its  own  field  of  scattered  moun- 
tain-pink and  poppy,  roofless  to  the  elements 
and  unprotected  from  the  blasts  which  were 
hurled  against  the  sides  of  board  and  tar-paper, 
was  now  the  focus  of  a  busy  world  that  had 
congregated  about.  A  colony  of  Eskimos, 
whose  members  had  been  gathered  in  from 
various  settlements  along  the  coast,  had  estab- 
lished themselves  on  the  same  free  soil  of  na- 
ture, eager  to  reap  the  benefits  which  a  contact 
with  civilization  might  bring,  and  ever  ready 
to  give  a  helping  hand  to  those  whom  they 
now  recognized  as  superiors.  The  twenty  or 
more  natives  were  lodged  in  five  tupics,  or 
skin  summer  tents,  about  which  were  gathered 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  109 

a  variety  of  paraphernalia  necessary  to  the 
Eskimo  household  and  an  amount  of  odor 
which  only  weeks — more  likely  months — of 
abrasion  and  ablution  could  efface.  If  clean- 
liness was  not  a  virture  with  these  people, 
their  honesty,  cheerfulness,  and  good-will 
made  amends  for  the  lack  of  a  quality  which  a 
defective  vision  has  assigned  to  be  the  first  at- 
tribute of  Godliness.  The  majority  of  the  men 
and  women  were  of  low  stature,  the  tallest  of 
the  latter,  fat  Itushakshui,  the  mother  of  an 
exceedingly  winsome  young  bride  of  thirteen, 
Tongwingwa,  measuring  only  4  feet  8  inches. 
M'gipsu,  the  shortest  of  the  mothers,  measured 
only  4  feet  4  inches.  The  men  are,  with  few 
exceptions,  taller  than  the  women,  but  even 
among  them  a  stature  exceeding  five  feet  is  a 
rarity  rather  than  the  reverse,  although  such 
exceptional  cases  are  less  rare  among  the  people 
of  the  region  about  Cape  York  than  further 
northward. 

The  moment  that  the  Kite  appeared  in 
McCormick  Bay  the  natives  recognized  that  a 
"circus  had  come  to  town."  A  few  of  them 
had  seen  the  vessel,  or  one  similar  to  it,  before, 
but  to  the  majority  the  Oomeakhshua  was  an 
unimaginable  novelty.  At  all  hours  of  "night" 
and  day,  when  a  transfer  could  readily  be  made 
from  the  shore,  men,  women,  and  children 
would  gather  to  her  sides,  eager  to  obtain 
mementos  of  our  journey  in  the   shape  of  bis- 


110  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

cuits,  soup,  or  thimbles.  The  deck  and  cabins 
underwent  a  daily  inspection,  as  did  also  the 
forecastle  and  every  other  available  spot  of  in- 
terest which  the  ship  offered.  These  visits  to 
us  ultimately  became  a  source  of  some  annoy- 
ance, since  they  interfered  largely  with  the 
work — the  making  of  skin  boots  and  clothing, 
fashioning  of  sledges  and  kayaks,  etc. — which 
had  been  laid  out  for  them  by  the  Peary  party. 
So  long  as  the  vessel  was  in  sight  and  approach- 
able, it  formed  the  uppermost  thought  in  their 
minds,  more  especially  of  the  women.  Stitch- 
ing seal-boots,  or  kamiks,  or  chewing  hides  to 
render  them  pliable,  was  of  little  moment  so 
long  as  good-hearted  Captain  Pike  gave  them 
welcome  with  him,  and  dealt  out  rations  of 
bread  and  biscuit.  On  two  occasions  we  were 
favored  with  a  song  and  dance,  the  instrument- 
al accompaniment  being  given  on  a  stretched 
drum-like  hide,  the  frame  of  which  was  beat 
to  a  three-time  with  a  splinter  of  ivory.  The 
most  popular  melody — the  one  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  curative  powers  when  sung  by 
the  "angekoks"  or  wise  men  of  the  settlement 
— consisted  of  a  succession  of  yah,  yah,  yahs, 
and  scarcely  anything  more,  which  fell  in 
rhythmic  cadence  from  a  high  crescendo  to  a 
tremulous  under-note,  suggestiv^e  of  almost  any 
range  of  possibilities. 

Almost  immediately  after  our  arrival  a  mes- 
sage was  sent  up  by  special   Eskimo  express  to 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  Ill 

Mrs.  Peary,  informing  her  of  our  coming,  and 
in  a  few  short  hours  a  welcome  greeting  was 
returned  to  the  relief  party.  I  visited  her  camp 
on  the  following  day  ('25th).  The  bay  was  still 
largely  closed  with  ice,  and  the  upper  part  was 
accessible  only  by  way  of  the  long  shore  line, 
on  which  a  lingering  ice-foot  had  set  its  heavy 
masses  of  frozen  sea.  Just  outside  the  tent,  in 
the  midst  of  a  mosquito-tract  which,  for  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  its  musical  tenants, 
could  readily  vie  with  the  more  favored  spots 
of  the  tropics,  I  met  the  brave  woman  who  was 
the  first  of  her  race  to  dare  the  terrors  of  the 
north  Arctic  winter.  She  had  come  to  meet 
me  and  pressed  a  cordial  invitation  to  follow 
to  her  coscy  shelter.  The  little  white  tent, 
whose  only  furniture  consisted  of  two  sleep- 
ing-bags of  reindeer-fur,  stood  on  a  patch  of 
meadow-land  facing  the  bay  and  across  it  the 
bold  granite  bluffs  which  to  the  outer  world 
marked  the  last  traces  of  the  departed  explor- 
ers, and  over  whose  nearly  vertical  walls  it 
was  hoped  that  fortune  would  favor  an  early 
return.  A  range  of  steep  heights,  over  whose  de- 
clivities a  number  of  glaciers  protruded  their 
arms  caterpillar-like  in  the  direction  of  the  sea, 
formed  the  desolate  background.  Eastward 
the  eye  gazed  upon  the  interminable  ice-cap, 
with  its  long  sweep  of  gentle  swells  and  un- 
dulations— a  land  lost  between  the  sky  and 
the  earth ;  westward  it  fell  upon  the  broad  ex- 


112  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

panse  of  the  bay  whose  half-congealed  surface 
passed  hazily  to  the  distant  sea  beyond.  This 
was  the  picture  of  the  spot  where  Mrs.  Peary, 
almost  alone  among  the  few  wild  flowers  by 
which  she  was  surrounded,  had  passed  full 
nine  days  with  but  a  single  companion  to  help 
relieve  the  dreary  and  anxious  hours  of  wait- 
ing. The  experiences  of  a  year  had  told  lightly 
on  her,  and  there  was  nothing  to  indicate  re- 
gret for  a  venture  which  no  woman  had  here- 
tofore braved  and  which  only  noble  devotion 
had  dictated. 

Recognizing,  with  the  late  day  of  his  depar- 
ture from  McCormick  Bay  (May  1st),  that  Mr. 
Peary  could  not  readily  return  from  his  haz- 
ardous journey  before  the  first  week  of  August, 
and  that  no  purpose  would  be  subserved  by 
the  relief  party  remaining  at  their  present 
quarters  until  that  time,  I  ordered  out  the 
Kite  on  the  following  morning  to  proceed  to 
Smith  Sound,  hoping  that  a  fortunate  combi- 
nation of  circumstances  might  permit  us  to 
make  a  traverse  of  the  front  of  the  great  Hum- 
boldt Glacier.  In  this  hope,  however,  we  were 
destined  to  be  disappointed.  No  more  delight- 
ful weather  could  have  been  conceived  than 
that  which  marked  the  day  of  our  departure 
northward.  A  flood  of  light  poured  over  the 
landscape,  illumining  it  with  a  radiance  which 
only  the  snows  and  ice  of  the  far  north  or  of 
Alpine  summits  can  reflect.     Scarcely  a  breath 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  113 

of  air  disturbed  the  hundreds  of  bergs  and 
"berglets"  which  floated  hizily  by,  impelled  by 
the  gentle  current  of  the  deep  blue  sea,  and 
barely  a  ripple,  save  where  the  little  auk  had 
congregated  in  hundreds  to  disport  awhile  in 
the  warm  sunshine,  broke  the  surface  of  the 
mirror  into  whose  inner  depths  we  cast  our 
images.  Fifty  miles  northward  the  headland 
of  Cape  Alexander  stood  out  with  a  boldness 
that  was  almost  startling  in  its'  effects,  while 
beyond  it  a  few  minor  heights  marked  the 
passage  into  that  forbidding  tract  of  sea  and 
ice  from  which  so  many  brave  hearts  have 
never  returned.  Before  we  had  reached  Lit- 
tleton Island  the  ominous  ice-blink  only  too 
plainly  told  us  that  ice  was  ahead ;  Smith 
Sound  was  closed  from  Greenland  to  the  Amer- 
ican side.  At  midnight  we  were  brought  up 
by  the  "pack";  Cape  Sabine,  memorable  in 
the  annals  of  Arctic  discovery  as  the  scene 
of  disaster  and  of  heroic  rescue,  was  to  our 
left,  and  Rensselaer  Harbor,  equally  memo- 
rable as  the  winter  quarters  of  the  Advance  of 
Kane,  a  few  miles  to  the  eastward.  The  ice 
was  somewhat  heavier  than  the  "pack"  of 
Melville  Bay,  in  which  Ave  were  imprisoned  the 
summer  previous,  but  it  yet  bore  the  same 
quiet  and  tranquil  air,  wholly  unsuggestive 
of  power-i^ossession.  The  hunnnocky  sheets, 
measuring  from  six  to  ten  feet  in  thickness,  and 
showing  Init  a  single  lead  in  .their  midst,  had 


114  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

manifestly  not  yet  begun  to  break  for  the  sea- 
son, and  therefore  all  efforts  to  reach  the  glacier 
at  this  time  must  be  fruitless.  Although  nine 
years  had  elapsed  since  the  crushing  of  the 
Proteus,  the  experiences  of  that  desolate  July 
23d  were  still  too  vivid  in  the  mind  of  our  cap- 
tain to  permit  of  any  risks  being  taken  on  this 
occasion.  With  his  back  turned  to  the  snow- 
clad  slopes  of  Cape  Sabine,  and  gazing  upon 
the  uncovered  and  to  him  less  reminiscent 
heights  of.  the  Greenland  coast,  he  announced 
that  we  had  reached  the  journey's  end.  The 
Humboldt  Glacier  was  invisible,  although 
farther  off  to  the  northward,  the  prominences  of 
Grinnell  Land,  Capes  Hawkes  and  Louis  Na- 
poleon, and  possibly  also  that  of  Cape  Imperial, 
•carried  the  eye  quite  to  the  border  line  of,  or 
even  beyond,  the  eightieth  parelel. 

The  front  ice  of  the  Smith  Sound  pack  is  the 
home  of  the  walrus.  Hundreds  of  these  ani- 
mals were  disporting  themselves  in  the  silent 
hours  of  a  sunlit  midnight;  here  a  few  gath- 
ered on  tablets  of  floating  ice,  others  leisurely 
paddling  alxjut  with  an  al^andon  truly  majes- 
tic. Their  frolics  immediately  called  to  mind 
the  gambols  of  pups  and  kittens.  No  animal, 
probably,  save  the  Bengal  tiger,  offers  the  same 
amount  of  sport  to  the  huntsman  as  does  this 
king  of  the  noriliern  waters.  Every  attack 
resulting  in  a  wounded  animal  can  be  safely 
relied     upon    for*  a    counter-attack,    which    is 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  115 

prosecuted  with  an  audacity  no  less  remark- 
able than  the  eners^y  with  which  it  is  sustained. 
A  wounded  walrus  will  not  infrequently  call 
for  assistance  to  a  number  of  its  associates,  and 
woe  be  then  to  the  huntsman  if,  in  the  general 
struggle,  one  of  the  infuriated  animals  should 
place  its  tusks  on  the  inner  side  of  the  little 
craft  that  has  gone  out  to  do  battle. 

The  largest  specimen  secured  by  us  measured, 
from  the  tip  of  the  nose  to  the  extended  hind 
flippers,  somewhat  more  than  thirteen  feet  (to 
the  extremity  of  the  spinal  column,  eleven  feet 
four  inches);  its  weight  was  estimated  to  be 
between  fifteen  hundred  and  two  thousand 
pounds,  but  not  impossibly  it  was  considerably 
more. 

In  our  return  southward  to  McCormick  Bay, 
which  began  shortly  before  five  o'clock  of  the 
morning  of  July  27th,  explorations  were  ex- 
tended into  Port  Foulke  and  Sonntag  Bay, 
where  were  located  the  "tribes"  of  the  Etah 
and  Sorfalik  Eskimos,  the  most  northerly  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  globe.  Only  empty  huts, 
five  or  six  at  each  locality,  a  few  grave- 
heaps,  and  distributed  rubbish  of  one  kind  or 
another,  now  indicated  a  former  possession  of 
the  land;  adverse  conditions  of  the  chase  had 
driven  away  the  inhabitants,  who  had  departed 
south  to  add  their  little  mite  to  the  colonists  of 
the  Whale  Sound  region.  The  last  of  the  Etahs 
had  joined  the  cantonment  about  the   Peary 


116  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

igdloo.  That  the  region  of  Port  Foulke  had 
only  recently  been  abandoned  was  proved  by 
the  generally  good  state  of  preservation  of  the 
stone  huts,  not  less  than  by  the  newly  arranged 
fox-traps  that  were  outlying.  A  return  of  the 
departed  could  probably  be  expected  in  a  more  " 
propitious  year.  In  Sonntag  Bay  an  effort 
was  made  to  ascertain  the  possibilities  of  some 
of  the  large  glaciers  as  a  means  of  communica- 
tion with  the  upper  ice  or  ice-cap.  The  fact 
that  in  many  of  these  northern  ice-streams 
crevasses  were  largely  or  almost  entirely  want- 
ing, or  were  so  completely  closed  as  to  show 
but  mere  rifts  on  the  surface,  seemed  to  indi- 
cate that  a  direct  highway  of  travel,  accessible 
alike  to  sledge  and  man,  could  be  found  on  the 
moving  ice.  A  first  attempt  on  a  northeast 
glacier,  with  a  sledge  loaded  to  about  two 
hundred  pounds,  proved  abortive;  the  high 
terminal  wall  and  abrupt  lateral  slopes,  while 
they  offer  no  serious  hindrance  to  man  in  the 
capacity  of  pedestrian,  blocked  the  approach  of 
the  toboggan,  as  would,  indeed,  have  also 
done  the  numerous  crevasses  which  cut  across 
the  ice  in  its  lower  border.  A  second  attempt, 
made  on  the  glacier*  discharging  into  the  east- 
ern extremity  of  the  bay,  proved  more  success- 

*It  is  with  special  pleasure  that  I  associate  with  this  unde- 
scribed  glacier  the  name  of  George  \V.  Childs,  Esq.,  of 
Philadelphia,  to  whose  kindly  interest  in  the  expedition  un- 
der my  command  the  expedition  owes  much  for  its  organiza- 
tion and  success. 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  117 

ful.  Ascending  over  the  feebly  depressed 
lateral  moraine  of  the  left  side,  no  difficulty 
was  encountered  in  transferring  our  impedi- 
menta to  the  surface  of  the  glacier,  which  was 
practically  solid,  and  almost  without  rift  for 
miles  from  its  termination.  The  even  crust  of 
the  ice,  which  at  the  early  hour  of  twelve  had 
barely  begun  to  yield  to  the  softening  in- 
fluences of  a  midnight  sun,  offered  little  obsta- 
cle to  the  traction  of  our  sledge,  and  before 
five  hours  had  passed,  we  had  planted  our 
stakes  in  the  neve  basin,  2,050  feet  above  the 
sea.  A  portion  of  the  immediate  ice-cap  was 
below  us,  some  of  it  eighty  or  a  hundred  feet 
higher  up;  the  feasibility  of  the  passage  had 
been  demonstrated. 

Later  experiences  on  some  of  the  more 
southerly  and  still  more  gigantic  glaciers  only 
further  demonstrated  the  accessibility  of  the 
ice-cap  along  a  route  of  travel  where  the 
gradient  was  scarcely  ten  degrees,  and  in 
many  parts  considerably  less.  Indeed,  the 
slope  of  many  of  the  northern  glaciers  for 
miles  does  not  exceed  three  to  five  degrees. 
The  only  difficulty  that  we  encountered  in 
the  traction  of  our  sledge,  a  steel  runnered  to- 
boggan, over  the  Sonntag  Bay  glacier  was  on 
the  upper  course  of  that  ice-sheet.  The  hard 
and  slippery  crust  which  there  rises  into  a  series 
of  rapidly  flowing  swells  or  mounds,  in  some 
places  disposed  in  almost  amphithcatric  regu- 


118  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

larity,  was  a  hard  test  to  the  almost  unshod 
condition  of  our  walking  gear.  We  had  un- 
fortunately provided  ourselves  with  only  in- 
different creepers  or  climl)ing  irons,  whose 
penetration  in  the  ice  was  not  sufficient,  with 
the  dragging  weight  hehind,  to  secure  lodge- 
ment or  resistance  to  the  feet.  It  required  the 
full  force  of  the  six  men  of  our  party  to  mount 
these  ice-hillocks,  the  accomplishment  of  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  a  comparatively 
easy  matter.  On  the  down-journey,  again,  the 
tendency  of  the  toboggan  to  run  by  itself  ne- 
cessitated a  continuous  "brake"  to  be  applied  to 
it  in  the  form  of  guiding  lines,  which  were 
held  on  either  side  by  the  members  of  the  party. 
In  the  upper  course  of  the  glacier,  where  the 
slope  mounts  more  abruptly  to  the  forming 
basin,  a  number  of  crevasses  were  met  with, 
but  with  the  exception  of  a  few  which  had  to 
be  circumvented,  they  were  nearly  all  easily 
crossed,  the  toboggan  in  some  cases  being 
pushed  over  to  form  a  bridge,  over  which  the 
least  gymnastically-inclined  of  the  party  found 
a  ready  passage.  We  found  it,  however,  a 
wise  precaution  to  use  the  Alpine  rope,  and 
indeed,  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  this  pre- 
caution emphasized  by  a  plunge  which  Mr. 
Bryant  took  into  one  of  the  crevasses.  Fortun- 
ately a  deep  descent  was  prevented  by  the 
narrowness  of  the  fissure  and  by  an  accumula- 
tion of  ice-debris  which  clogged  and  disfigured 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  119 

the  interior,  uhnost  closing  it  to  the  lop. 
We  arrived  at  our  old  quarters  in  McCor- 
mick  Bay  in  the  evening  of  the  29th.  Tlie 
halniy  weather  that  had  thus  far  accompanied 
us  still  gave  the  sensation  of  spring,  but  an 
impending  change  was  perceptible.  The  last 
two  or  three  evenings  had  grown  measurably 
cooler,  and  the  drooping  sun  indicated  a  draw- 
ing approach  to  cold  weather  and  wintry  nights. 
Anticipating  a  probable  return  of  Mr.  Peary 
toward  the  close  of  the  first  week  in  August, 
the  Kite,  with  Mrs.  Peary  and  Matthew  Henson 
added  to  my  party,  steamed  on  the  4th  to  the 
head  of  the  bay  and  there  dropped  anchor.  Mrs. 
Peary  accompanied  me  in  the  afternoon  to  the 
foot  of  one  of  the  glaciers  which  here  de- 
bouclies  in  the  valley,  terminating  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  water.  It  was  my 
iutcntion  to  measure  the  velocity  of  this  ice- 
stream,  and  toward  that  purpose  a  number  of 
sight  stakes  were  planted  on  the  off-border; 
unfortunately,  circumstances  were  such  as  not 
to  permit  a  return  to  the  same  locality,  and, 
therefore,  no  record  was  obtained.  Like 
seemingly  all  the  glaciers,  at  least  those  of 
a  second  order,  of  north  Greenland,  this  was 
one  of  recession ;  the  open  space  between  it 
and  the  bay  was  everywhere  marked  by  evi- 
dences of  former  glaciation,  with  here  and 
there  traces  of  terminal  moraines  still  stand- 
ing.    Naturally,  it   could  not  be   ascertained 


120  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

whether  actual  recession  was  still  in  progress, 
or  whether  a  reversed  condition  had  possibly 
set  in  ;  only  the  observations  of  a  succession 
of  two  or  more  years  could  determine  this 
point.*  Vast  quantities  of  water  were  being 
everywhere  thrown  off  from  the  ice,  some  of 
it  falling  in  great  lateral  fountains  which 
cut  ragged  gashes  into  the  solid  wall  of  ice. 
The  heat  of  a  single  summer,  being  continued 
almost  equally  through  night  and  day,  graves 
deeply  into  these  northern  ice-sheets,  and  the 
effects  of  lateral  ablation  are  especially  well 
marked.  Many  of  the  glaciers  are  bordered 
by  lateral  ravines,  portions  of  the  glacial 
trough  which  have  been  left  exposed  by  the 
disappearance  from  them  of  the  excavating  ice. 
The  surface  waste  is  surprisingly  great  in  some 
instances.  One  of  the  arms  of  the  great  Tyn- 
dall  Glacier  which  on  our  journey  northward 
was  found  to  encompass  the  north  side  of  Bell 
(Fitzclarence)  Rock,  in  Booth  Sound,  had  all 
but  disappeared  in  the  interval  of  five  weeks 
preceding  our  return. 

On  the  day  following  our  arrival  at  the  head 
of  the  bay,  a  reconnaissance  of  the  inland  ice, 

*The  examination  of  the  much  larger  glacier,  since  named  by 
Mr.  Peary  the  Sun  Glacier,  -which  discharges,  with  a  frontage 
of  a  mile,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  gave  an  advance  of 
the  lateral  margin  of  nearly  seven  inches  in  eight  hours  ;  on 
the  other  hand  I  could  detect  no  movement,  for  a  period  of 
twenty-four  hours,  in  the  large  glacier  which  descends  from 
the  Cleveland  plateau  toward  Murchison  Sound. 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  121 

with  a  view  to  locating  signal  posts  to  the  re- 
turning explorers,  was  made  by  the  members  of 
the  expedition.  A  tedious  half-hour's  march 
over  boggy  and  bouldery  talus  brought  us  to 
the  base  of  the  cliffs,  at  an  elevation  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  feet,  where 
the  true  ascent  was  to  begin.  The  line  of 
march  is  up  a  precipitous  water-channel,  every- 
where encompassed  by  boulders,  on  which,  de- 
spite its  steepness,  progress  is  rapid.  The 
virtual  crest  is  reached  about  six  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  higher,  and  then  the  gradual  uprise 
of  the  stream-valley  begins.  Endless  rocks, 
rounded  and  angular — the  accumulation  of 
former  ground  and  lateral  moraines — spread 
out  as  a  vast  wilderness,  rising  to  the  ice-cap 
in  superimposed  benches  or  terraces.  At  an 
elevation  slightly  exceeding  eighteen  hundred 
feet  we  reached  the  first  tongue  of  the  ice. 
Rounding  a  few  outlying  "nunataks" — uncov- 
ered hills  of  rock  and  boulders — we  bear  east 
of  northeast,  heading  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
the  direction  from  which,  so  far  as  the  lay  of 
the  land  would  permit  us  to  determine,  the  re- 
turn would  most  likely  be  made.  The  ice-cap 
swells  up  higher  and  higher  in  gentle  rolls 
ahead  of  us,  and  with  every  advance  to  a  colder 
zone  it  would  seem  that  the  walking,  or  rather 
wading,  becomes  more  and  more  difficult.  One 
by  one  we  plunge  through  the  yielding  mass, 
gasping  for  breath,  and   frequently  only  with 


122  The  Pcarij  Rdkf  Expedition. 

difficulty  extricating  ourselves.  The  hard 
crust  of  winter  had  completely  disappeared, 
and  not  even  the  comparatively  cool  sun  of 
midnight  was  sufficient  to  bring  about  a  degree 
of  compactness  adequate  to  sustain  the  weight 
of  the  human  body.  At  times  almost  every 
step  buried  the  members  of  the  party  up  to  the 
knee  or  waist,  and  occasionally  even  a  plunge 
to  the  armpits  was  indulged  in  by  the  less  for- 
tunate, to  whom  perhapsasuperfluity  of  avoir- 
dupois was  now  for  the  first  time  brought  home 
as  a  lesson  of  regret.  We  have  attained  an 
elevation  of  2,200  feet ;  at  4  p.  m.  the  baro- 
meter registers  2,800  feet.  The  landscape  of 
McCormick  Bay  has  faded  entirely  out  of  sight; 
ahead  of  us  is  the  grand  and  melancholy  snow 
waste  of  the  interior  of  Greenland.  No  grander 
representation  of  nature's  quiet  mood  could  be 
had  than  this  picture  of  the  endless  sea  of  ice 
— a  picture  of  lonely  desolation  not  matched 
in  any  other  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  A 
series  of  gentle  rises  carries  the  eye  far  into  the 
interior,  until  in  the  dim  distance,  possibly 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  or  a  full  mile  above 
sea-level,  it  no  longer  distinguishes  between 
the  chalky  sky  and  the  gray-white  mantle 
which  locks  in  with  it.  No  lofty  mountain- 
peak  rises  out  of  the  general  surface,  and  but 
few  deep  valleys  or  gorges  bight  into  it ;  but 
roll  follows  roll  in  gentle  sequence,  and  insuch 
a  way  as  to  annihilate  all  conce})tions  of  space 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  123 

and  distance.  Tliis  is  tlie  aspect  of  the  great 
"ice-blink."  It  is  not  the  picture  of  a  wild  and 
tempestuous  nature*  forbidding  in  all  its  de- 
tails, but  of  a  peaceful  and  long-continued 
slumber. 

At  5.45  r.  M.,  when  we  took  a  first  luncheon, 
the  thermometer  registered  42°  F. ;  the  atmos- 
phere was  c|uiet  and  clear  as  a  bell,  although 
below  us,  westward  to  the  islands  guarding 
the  entrance  to  Murchison  Sound,  and  east- 
ward to  a  blue  corner  of  Inglefield  Gulf,  the 
landscape  was  deeply  veiled  in  mist.  Shortly 
after  nine  o'clock  we  had  reached  an  elevation 
of  3,300  feet,  and  there,  at  a  distance  of  about 
eight  miles  from  the  border  of  the  ice-cap,  we 
planted  our  first  staff — a  lash  of  two  poles, 
rising  about  twelve  feet  and  surmounted  by 
cross-pieces  and  a  red  handkerchief.  One  of 
the  cross-pieces  read  as  follows  :  "To  head  of 
McCormick  Bay — Kite  in  port — August  5, 
1892." 

A  position  for  a  second  staff  was  selected  on 
an  ice-dome  aljout  two  and  a  half  miles  from 
the  present  one,  probably  a  few  hundred  feet 
higher,  and  commanding  a  seemingly  uninter- 
rupted view  to  all  points  of  the  compass.  Soli- 
citous over  the  condition  of  the  feet  of  some  of 
my  associates,  I  ordered  a  division  of  the  party, 
with  a  view  of  sparing  unnecessary  fatigue  and 
the  discomfort  which  further  precipitation  into 
soft  snow  entailed.     Mr.  Bryant,  in  command 


124  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

of  an  advanced  section,  was  entrusted  with  the 
placing  of  the  second  staff,  while  the  remaining 
members  of  the  party  were  to  effect  a  slow  re- 
treat, and  await  on  dry  ground  the  return  of 
the  entire  expedition.  Scarcely  had  the  separa- 
tion been  arranged  before  a  shout  burst  upon 
the  approaching  midnight  hour  which  made 
everybody's  heart  throb  tcv  its  fullest.  Far  off 
to  the  northeastward,  over  precisely  the  spot 
that  had  been  selected  for  the  placing  of  the 
second  staff,  Entrikin's  clear  vision  had  de- 
tected a  black  speck  that  was  foreign  to  the 
Greenland  ice.  There  was  no  need  to  conjec- 
ture what  it  meant :  "It  is  a  man  ;  it  is  mov- 
ing," broke  out  almost  simultaneously  from 
several  lips,  and  it  was  immediately  realized 
that  the  explorers  of  whom  we  were  in  quest 
were  returning  victoriously  homeward.  An 
instant  later  a  second  speck  joined  the  first, 
and  then  a  long  black  object,  easily  resolved  by 
my  field-glass  into  a  sledge  with  dogs  in  har- 
ness, completed  the  strange  vision  of  life  upon 
the  Greenland  ice.  Cheers  and  hurrahs  fol- 
lowed in  rapid  succession — the  first  that  had 
ever  been  given  in  a  solitude  whose  silence, 
before  that  memorable  summer,  had  never  been 
broken  by  the  voice  of  man. 

The  distance  was  as  yet  too  great  for  the 
sound  to  be  conveyed  to  the  approaching  wan- 
derers, but  the  relief  party  had  already  been 
detected,  and  their  friends   hastened  to  extend 


The  Peary  Relief  Expedition.  125 

to  them  a  hearty  welcome.  Like  a  veritable 
giant,  clad  in  a  suit  of  deer  and  dog-skin,  and 
gracefully  poised  on  Canadian  snow-shoes,  the 
conqueror  from  the  far  north  plunged  down  the 
mountain-slope.  Behind  him  followed  his 
faithful  companion,  young  Astrup,  barely 
more  than  a  lad,  yet  a  tow  er  of  strength  and 
endurance  ;  he  was  true  to  the  traditions  of  his 
race  and  of  his  earlier  conquests  in  the  use  of 
the  Norwegian  snow-skate  or  "ski."  With  him 
were  the  five  surviving  Eskimo  dogs,  seem- 
ingly as  healthy  and  powerful  as  on  the  day  of 
their  departure. 

In  less  than  an  hour  after  Lieutenant  Peary 
was  first  sighted,  and  still  before  the  passage 
of  the  midnight  hour  of  that  memorable  Au- 
gust 5th,  culminated  that  incident  on  the  in- 
land ice  which  was  the  event  of  a  lifetime. 
Words  cannot  describe  the  sensations  of  the 
moment  which  bore  the  joy  of  the  first  saluta- 
tion. Mr.  Peary  extended  a  warm  welcome  to 
each  member  of  my  party,  and  received  in  re- 
turn hearty  congratulations  upon  the  successful 
termination  of  his  journey.  Neither  of  the 
traveller  looked  the  worse  for  their  three 
months'  toil  in  the  interior,  and  both,  with 
characteristic  modesty,  disclaimed  having  over- 
come more  than  ordinary  hardships.  Fatigue 
seemed  to  be  entirely  out  of  the  question,  and 
both  Mr.  Peary  and  Mr.  Astrup  bore  the  ap- 
pearance  of  being  as   fresh    and   vigorous  as 


126  The  Pcanj  Rdkf  Expedition. 

thougli  they  had  but  just    entered    upon  their 
great  journey. 

After  a  brief  recital  of  personal  experiences, 
and  the  interchange  of  American  and  Green- 
land news,  the  members  of  the  combined  ex- 
pedition turned  seaward,  and  thus  terminated 
a  most  dramatic  incident.  A  more  direct 
meeting  than  this  one  on  the  bleak  wilderness 
of  Greenland's  ice-cap  could  not  have  been  had, 
even  with  all  the  possibilities  of  prearrange- 
ment. 

At  4.30  of  the  morning  of  August  6th  Mr. 
Peary  met  his  devoted  and  courageous  wife; 
and  on  the  following  day,  in  the  wake  of  a 
storm  which  grounded  the  good  rescue  ship 
and  for  a  time  threatened  more  serious  compli- 
cations, the  Kite  triumphantly  steamed  down 
to  the  Peary  winter-quarters  at  the  Redcliffe 
House. 

The  results  of  the  Peary  Expedition  justify 
all  the  anticipations  that  had  been  pinned  to  it. 
Apart  from  its  worth  in  determining  the  in- 
sularity of  Greenland — thereby  setting  at  rest 
a  question  which  had  disturbed  the  minds  of 
geographers  and  statesmen  for  a  period  of  three 
centuries,  or  since  the  days  of  Lord  Burleigh — 
it  has  forever  removed  that  tract  from  a  consid- 
eration of  complicity  in  tlie  main  workings  of 
the  Great  Ice  Age.  The  inland  ice-cap,  which 
by  many  has  been  looked  upon  as  the  linger- 
ing ice  of  the  Glacial  Period,  stretching  far  in- 


The  Pcarij  Relief  Expedition.  127 

to  the  realm  of  the  Pole  itself,  has  been  found 
to  terminate  throughout  its  entire  extent  at 
approximately  the  eighty-second  parallel ;  be- 
yond this  line  follows  a  region  of  past  glacia- 
tion — uncovered  to-day,  and  supporting  an 
abundance  of  plant  and  animal  life  not  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  more  favored  regions 
southward.  Over  this  tract  has  manifestly 
been  effected  that  migration  of  organic  forms 
from  the  west  and  to  the  west  which  has 
assimilated  the  faunas  and  floras  of  eastern 
Greenland  with  those  of  other  regions  ;  indeed, 
man's  own  migrations  are  probably  bound  up 
with  this  northern  tract,  Significant,  too,  is 
the  discovery  of  giant  glaciers  passing  north- 
ward from  the  inland  ice-cap,  and  discharging 
their  icebergs  into  the  frozen  sea  beyond.  The 
largest  of  these,  named  the  Academy  Glacier, 
and  measuring  from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  in 
width,  empties  on  the  northeast  coast  into  In- 
dependence Bay,  under  the  eighty-second  par- 
allel. 


A  Lost  Companion. 

Shortly  after  the  return  from  the  interior  of 
the  exploring  party,  and  pending  preparations 
for  the  final  departure  southward,  happened 
that  one  incident  to  the  expedition  which  in 
any  way  marred  the  brilliancy  of  its  exploits. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  ^'^erhoeff,  tlie  met- 
eorologist and  mineralogist  of  the  North  Green- 
land party,  undertook  that  last  search  after 
rock-specimens  from  which  he  never  again  re- 
turned to  meet  his  associates.  He  was  last 
seen  on  the  morning  of  August  11th,  when  he 
stated  his  intention  of  visiting  the  Eskimo  set- 
tlement of  Kukan,  across  the  northern  wall  of 
McCormick  Bay,  and  a  mineral  locality  well 
known  to  him.  Failing  to  appear  at  an  early 
day,  fears  were  entertained  for  his  safety,  and  a 
systematic  and  scattered  search  was  immedi- 
ately instituted  by  our  combined  parties,  as- 
sisted by  nine  specially  selected  Eskimos  and 
several  members  of  the  ship's  crew.  The 
search  was  extended  almost  unremittingly 
throughout  seven  days  and  nights,  over  mount- 
ain, ice,  and  glacier,  and  with  a  thoroughness 
that  left  no  large  area  of  accessible  country  un- 
covered. 


A  Lost  Companion.  129 

For  the  first  four  days  the  members  of  my 
party,  assisted  in  part  by  Dr.  Cook,  by  Mate 
Murphy,  Engineer  McKinley  and  sailor  "Jim" 
of  the  ship's  crew,  and  four  of  Mr.  Peary's 
Eskimos  (Equaw,  Anauka,  Kooko,  and  Ton- 
gwe),  explored  the  shores  of  McCormick  and 
Robertson  Bays,  while  Mr.  Peary  and  his  party 
made  the  traverse  of  the  divide  which  separates 
these  two  bodies  of  water  from  one  another. 
By  this  division  we  hoped  to  cover  at  the  same 
time  both  the  lowland  and  upland  regions, 
and  thereby  lessen  the  chances  of  possible  fail- 
ure. Our  endeavors  were,  however,  fruitless. 
Neither  cliff  nor  valley  gave  out  any  vestiges 
of  the  missing  man — no  trace  that  human  feet 
had  recently  trod  the  frozen  soil.  Failing  in 
our  examination  of  the  open  land-surface,  we 
next  directed  our  attention  to  the  huge  ice- 
sheets  which  like  so  many  rivers  break  the 
continuity  of  the  shore-line,  and  sail  out  their 
ever-crumbling  masses  into  the  sea  beyond. 
The  possibility  that  Mr.  Verhoeff  had  at- 
tempted a  tour  of  McCormick  Bay  to  gain  the 
Redcliffe  House,  to  accomplish  which  a  tra- 
verse of  the  large  glacier  emptying  at  the  north- 
east angle  of  the  bay  would  have  been  neces- 
sitated, laid  our  course  in  the  direction  of  this 
ice  stream.  It  was  early  in  the  evening  of  the 
19th  of  August,  when  the  elevation  of  the  sun 
still  marked  about  twenty  degrees  above  the 
horizon,  that  we  again  entered  the  shadows  of 


130  The  Pear II  Relief  Expedition. 

the  same  granite  cliffs  over  which,  only  a  few 
days  before,  we  had  so  joyfully  passed  after  our 
meeting  with  Mr.  Peary.  The  scene  had 
changed.  The  deep  caiion,  along  which  the 
eye  could  follow  the  long  lazy  line  of  glacier 
for  a  distance  of  12-15  miles  to  its  mother  ice- 
cap, looked  bleak  and  forbidding ;  there  was 
no  longer  that  charm  of  the  unknown  about  it 
which  attracts  when  all  nature  smiles  with 
success.  A  dark  cloud  had  settled  over  the 
landscape,  and  for  a  time  closed  out  its  joys. 

We  approached  the  front  wall  of  the  glacier 
with  caution  and  in  almost  silence,  fearing 
lest  any  percussion  might  too  hastily  precipi- 
tate some  of  the  tottering  masses  which  were 
"calving"  their  way  to  sea  as  bergs.  Like  the 
snowy  avalanches  of  the  Alps,  which  are  at 
times  called  to  life  by  the  clapping  of  the 
hands,  so  must  these  ice-masses  of  the  north  be 
left  to  their  own  peaceful  slumbers.  Once 
overturned,  there  can  be  no  forecasting  of  the 
commotion  that  might  follow.  A  turn  or  two 
may  end  the  scene,  or  it  can  be  that  it  has 
hardly  begun  before  the  water  is  churned  into 
foam.  We  secured  a  safe  landing  in  a  small 
bight  on  the  eastern  flank  of  the  glacier,  and 
there  hauled  up  our  boat. 

Cutting  our  steps  into  the  dome-shaped 
lateral  margin  of  the  glacier  we  soon  gained 
the  surface,  upon  which  walking  was  fairly 
easy  and  comfortable.     An  effort  to  reach  the 


A  Lost  Companion.  131 

opposite  side  was  frustrated  by  the  numerous 
long  and  deep  crevasses  which  cut  into  the  me- 
dian portion  of  the   ice  ;  we  were   obliged  to 
wander   around  and    about  some  of  these,  but 
generally   could   manage  to  keep  on  a  united 
body,  or  where  the  fissures  were  of  but  insigni- 
ficant  width.     For  some    distance  the  surface 
kept  disagreeably  hummocky,  but  after  passing 
a  feeding  glacier,  it  spread  out  in  an   almost 
horizontal  glistening  sheet,  admirably  adapted 
for  sledging  purposes,  and  of  necessity,  to  pedes- 
trianism.     The  crevasses  became  less  and  less 
numerous,  and  ultimately  ceased   altogether, 
so  that  a  traverse  could  be  made  in  any  direc- 
tion.    A    narrow,    remarkably    straight   and 
evenly-defined  medial    moraine,  more  in    the 
nature  of  a    dirt-band  with    angular    blocks 
scattered    over   it — the   like  of  which  is  to  be 
found  only  in  the  old-fashioned   books  of  geo- 
logy, the   illustrations  in  which  are  ordinarily 
considered  to  be  archaic   rather  than  truthful 
— occupied  the  central   axis,  stretching-ofi"  up- 
wards to  the  limits  of  vision. 

Had  our  mission  been  diff'erent  from  what 
it  really  was  we  might  have  said  that  this 
glacial  travelling  was  truly  delightful.  With 
all  the  beauty  of  the  ice-fields  of  Switzerland, 
and  that  charm  of  pedestrianism  which  an  un- 
expected and  varying  change  of  scene  carries 
with  it,  we  had  here  the  advantage  of  the 
many  hours,  the  consciousness   that  a  journey 


132  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

was  not  limited  to  any  arbitrary  separation  of 
day  from  night.  It  was  all  day,  albeit  the  sun 
shone  for  only  a  paltry  few  hours.  For  some 
time  angry-looking  clouds  had  been  gathering 
about  the  blackened  granite  crests;  the  side 
canons  poured  out  their  fleecy  hosts,  and  be- 
fore long  the  wild  spirit  of  the  mountains 
swept  demon-like  across  the  valley  of  the  gla- 
cier. The  few  lazily-falling  flakes  which  for  a 
half-hour  or  so  had  portended  evil,  were  before 
long  replaced  by  blinding  sheets  of  snow,  and 
for  a  short  time,  save  in  its  elements,  nature 
ceased  to  exist.  The  landscape  was  completely 
blotted  out  from  view.  We  were  not  prepared 
for  this  change,  and  the  cold  wind  stung  merci- 
lessly wherever  it  caught  an  exposed  surface. 
We  muffled  ourselves  as  best  we  could  in  our 
not  over- generous  garments,  but  yet  it  was  not 
all  solid  comfort.  Fortunately,  the  storm  was 
of  only  short  duration,  and  in  its  wake  the 
landscape  rose  resplendent  in  its  new  garb. 

At  about  3  A.  M.  we  started  on  the  return; 
we  had  penetrated  up-stream  about  five  or  six 
miles,  and  had  ascended  probably  6-700  feet 
in  that  distance.  We  had  seen  nothing,  and 
no  sound,  save  the  echoes  from  the  beetling 
cliffs  of  granite  and  trap  which  here  rose  in 
impending  masses  2,500  or  3, 000  feet  above  us, 
responded  to  the  oft-repeated  shouts  to  which 
we  gave  utterance. 

On  the  day  following  our  return  to  the  Kite 


A  Lost  Companion.  133 

a  second  search  was  made  over  the  same  gla- 
cier, starting  from  the  opposite  side,  but  with 
no  better  result.  Equally  unsuccessful  were 
the  members  of  my  party  who  had  searched  in 
other  directions,  and  before  noon  Mr.  Peary, 
whohad  returned  from  his  own  arduous  search, 
only  communicated  further  intelligence  of 
failure.  Some  of  his  men  were,  however,  still 
searching  over  the  mountain  heights  towards 
Robertson  Bay,  and  a  ray  of  hope  remained 
that  they  might  have  met  with  better  success. 
With  a  view  of  combining  our  forces  in  a  final 
effort,  and  of  affording  relief  to  the  mountain 
party,  the  Kite  was  for  the  second  time  di- 
rected into  Robertson  Bay,  the  shores  of  which 
were  closely  scanned,  but  without  result. 
Aged  Kauna,  the  lord  of  the  one-family  settle- 
ment of  Igludahominy — the  last  of  the  Etahs 
— whose  lonely  wigwam  guards  entrance  to 
a  patch  of  green  which  nature  had  specially 
nursed  in  her  bosom,  had  neither  seen  nor 
heard  of  the  missing  man;  on  the  opposite 
shore,  the  igdloos  of  Kukan  were  found  to  be 
all  deserted  and  untouched.  At  2  A.  M.  of  the 
22d  we  reached  the  head  of  the  bay,  and  were 
there  joined  by  Mr.  Peary  and  his  Eskimos;  no 
word  had  yet  been  received  from  the  mountain 
party,  Astrup,  Gibson,  Cook  and  their  native 
contingent,  but  it  was  known  that  their  des- 
cent would  be  in  the  direction  of  the  glaciers 
which  break  through  the  pinnacled  walls  of 


134  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

granite  which  bound  the  eastern  extremity  of 
the  bay. 

The  strain  of  almost  continuous  travel  during 
the  last  few  days,  combined  with  little  sleep, 
forced  a  temporary  rest  upon  us,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  hours  of  morning  had  been  well  ad- 
vanced that  we  attempted  to  face  the  ice-sheet 
which  promised  only  a  forlorn  hope.  Over  an 
extent  of  two  full  miles  the  deeply  hollowed- 
out  or  concave  ice-front  presents  an  unbroken 
wall  of  70-100  feet  elevation,  from  which  ice- 
bergs constantly  press  forward.  A  mile  or  more 
in  advance  of  it  the  polished  surfaces  of  three 
protruding  rock  masses  or  islets  clearly  betray 
a  former  greatness  and  subsequent  shrinkage, 
but  such  as  it  is,  the  glacier  would  not  be 
shamed  by  the  largest  of  the  Alps  or  of  Scan- 
dinavia. With  the  arrangement  that  the  ex- 
amination of  this  huge  ice-sheet  shoud  be  made 
simultaneously  from  opposite  sides,  we  divided 
forces,  my  party  taking  up  the  start  from  the 
western  border.  Our  landing  place  was  a  true 
garden  spot.  The  luxuriant  growth  of  grass, 
12-16  inches  in  height,  with  its  garniture  of 
poppies,  chickweed,  potentillas  and  gentians, 
was  the  most  refreshing  exposition  of  Greenland 
vegetation  that  we  had  yet  met  with ;  butter- 
flies flitted  about  in  the  bright  sunshine,  whose 
genial  warmth  recalled  memories  of  a  distant 
south. 

The  back  of  the  glacier   was  easily   reached 


A  Lost  Companion.  135 

by  mounting  over  the  low  rounded  flank  which 
partially  overrides  the  lateral  moraine.  Near 
to  the  margin  the  sea  of  ice  was  smooth  and 
gently  undulating,  but  towards  the  center  it 
becomes  rapidly  rugged  and  fissured.  The 
whole  is  piled  up  in  a  wild  confused  mass, 
peaks  and  pinnacles  rising  up  innumerable.  I 
ordered  on  the  creepers  and  Alpine  rope,  and 
leading,  was  followed  in  the  order  of  Mcehan, 
Hite,  Bryant,  Mills,  Vorse,  Entrikin,  and 
Daniel ;  Mr.  Stokes  had  been  disabled  in  the 
beginning  of  the  journey  by  stumbling  over  one 
of  the  numerous  holes  which  encumber  the 
grass  slope  of  the  mountain-side,  and  had  to  be 
left  in  the  rear.  It  was  manifest  that  no  cross- 
ing could  be  attempted  in  the  lower  course  of 
the  glacier;  the  disrupted  surface  bore  a  most 
wicked  aspect,  and  we  dared  not  trust  to  the 
snow-bridges  which  crossed  the  border  cre- 
vasses. Into  many  of  these,  down  to  a  depth 
of  fifty  or  a  hundred  feet,  we  peered,  with  the 
thought  of  possibly  seeing  traces  of  our  unfor- 
tunate companion,  but  the  eye  brought  back 
with  it  only  visions  of  the  beautiful  blue 
ice- walls,  and  of  the  long  icy  pendants  which 
clung  close  to  their  surfaces.  Striking  diagon- 
ally up-stream  we  soon  broke  into  a  less  torn 
portion  of  the  ice-sheet,  where  travelling  was 
comparatively  easy,  and  where  but  a  few  cre- 
vasses disturbed  the  line  of  march.  Shortly 
after  4  p.  m.,  when  we  had  just  about  reached 


136  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

the  middle  of  the  ice-stream,  wemet^fr.  Peary 
and  two  of  his  Eskimos,  Kumenapik  and  Mek- 
tosha,  crossing  from  the  opposite  side.  They 
brought  to  us  the  intelligence  thatthe  first  traces 
of  the  missing  man  had  finally  been  found; 
partially  obliterated  foot-prints,  a  few  rock 
fragments  placed  on  a  boulder,  and  bits  of  pa- 
perfroma  meat-tin  label,  were  discovered  on  the 
lateral  ice  which  for  some  distance  accompanies 
the  glacier  on  its  eastern  flank.  The  discov- 
ery was  made  by  the  mountain  party,  who  had 
so  far  as  possible  followed  in  the  course  which 
it  was  assumed  must  necessarily  have  been 
taken  in  an  eff'ort  to  cross  the  ridge.  It  was 
evident  that  Verhoeff  had  descended  the  cliffs 
and  attempted  to  cross  the  glacier  possibly 
with  a  view  of  reaching  Igludahominy.  The 
Eskimos  declared  the  foot-prints  old,  and  pro 
bably  a  full  week  had  elapsed  since  they  were 
planted  on  the  soft  snow. 

At  Mr.  Peary's  request  my  party  proceeded 
up  the  glacier  to  a  prominent  nunatak  which, 
about  two  miles  further,  splits  the  glacier  into 
two  unequal  arms,  one  of  which  had  already 
been  searched  by  Gibson  and  Astrup.  The 
glacier  here  expands  to  a  width  of  about  four 
miles,  and  presents  a  charm  of  scenery  which, 
of  its  kind,  I  had  never  before  seen  equalled. 
The  ice-cap  is  the  bounding  vision  of  the  dim 
distance,  but  on  either  side  the  beetling  cliffs 
of  granite  narrow  the  horizon  to  a  sharp  real- 


A  Lost   Companion.  137 

ity.  We  encountered  little  difficulty  in  making 
a  median  traverse  of  the  glacier;  the  surface  of 
the  ice  was  crystalline-granular  through  hard 
freezing  and  alternate  melting,  and  there  were 
no  crevasses  of  any  account.  A  wilderness  of 
small  hummocks  supplied  their  place.  Occas- 
ional water-courses  had  graven  winding  chan- 
nels in  the  ice,  but  they  were  of  insignificant 
depth,  and  offered  no  obstacle  to  their,passage. 
Shortly  before  seven  o'clock  we  reached  the 
base  of  the  central  nunatak,  a  giant  granite 
mass,  stained  red  with  its  rusty  coat  of  lichen, 
and  rising  probably  not  less  than  800  or  1,000 
feet  out  of  the  ice.  Its  foot  is  buried  in  a  gar- 
den of  grass,  moss  and  wild  flowers — a  veritable 
oasis  in  an  ice-wilderness. 

We  had  now  reached  a  point  on  the  glacier 
beyond  which  it  would  have  been  superfluous 
to  make  further  search.  Regretfully,  there- 
fore, we  turned  in  the  direction  of  the  sea,  with 
but  little  hope  left  to  lighten  our  footsteps. 
We  followed  for  some  distance  a  medial  de- 
pression in  the  ice  (formed  through  the  junc- 
tion with,  and  deflection  by,  a  secondary  gla- 
cial arm — a  negative  medial  moraine),  and 
then  deflected  the  course  to  the  side  of  the  gla- 
cier opposite  to  that  from  which  we  started 
Good  areas  of  travel  alternate  with  bad  ones 
but  it  is  easily  noticeable  that  the  crevasses  rap 
idly  increase  both  in  number  and  size.  Long 
detours  are  necessitated,  and  step-cutting  be 


138  The  Pearij  Relief  Expedition. 

comes  more  frequent  than  pleasant.  For  some 
distance  before  the  edge  of  the  ice  is  reached 
the  surface  is  frightfully  torn  into  yawning 
chasms  and  jagged  pinnacles,  both  alike  for- 
bidding and  impassable.  The  snow  bridges  are 
no  longer  to  be  trusted,  and  over  the  wider 
chasms  they  are  entirely  absent.  At  10.30  p.  m 
we  met  the  remaining  members  of  the  Peary 
party,  and  with  them  rowed  out  to  the  Kite, 
which  we  reached  shortly  before  the  midnight 
hour. 

The  aspect  of  the  almost  effaced  foot-prints 
convinced  me  that  the  Eskimos  were  correct  in 
their  belief  that  they  must  have  been  made 
many  days  before  their  discovery.  It  was  in 
vain  that  any  effort  was  made  to  follow  them 
up — there  was  no  outlet.  The  search  was  con- 
tinued through  all  the  opening  valleys  and 
gorges  of  the  region,  and  back  again  to  the 
final  glacier,  but  only  with  negative  result 
Painfully  we  were  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  unfortunate  man  had  met  his  fate  in 
attempting  the  passage  of  that  wicked  portion 
of  the  ice-sheet  opposite  which  the  scanty,  but 
positive,  traces  of  his  presence  had  been  de- 
tected.*    Under  this  conviction,  and  recogniz- 

*  It  is  but  proper  to  state  here  that  a  sister  and  uncle  of  Mr. 
Verhoeff  believe  the  missing  man  to  be  still  alive,  and  that 
he  designedly  separated  himself  from  the  expedition  through 
a  fondness  for  the  life  that  he  had  been  leading,  and  for  th 
purpose  of  making  a  "record. "  No  one  wishes  more  heartily 
that  this  may  be  the  fact  than  the  writer  of  this  narrative. 


A   Lost   Companion.  139 

ing  the  futility  of  further  search,  the  expedi- 
tion returned  to  McCormick  Bay,  on  the  north- 
western promontory  of  which  (known  as  Cape 
Robertson),  on  Cairn  Point,  a  cache  of  provis- 
ions was  left  by  Lieutenant  Peary. 

The  final   departure    from   McCormick  Bay 
took    place  on  the    day    following   the  return 
from    the   search    (the   24th).     At  2.20  p.  m.  a 
parting  salute  was  blown,  and  the  Oomeakshua, 
w^hose  presence    had  given  so  much  joy  to  the 
rude  children  of  the  north,  turned   her   nose 
homeward.      Taking    advantage   of    the   fine 
weather,  we  called  at  the  Eskimo  settlement 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Saunders  Island,  but 
found  it  deserted;  the  inhabitants  were  prob- 
ably at  their  more  favored  retreat  on   North 
Star  Bay,  access  to  which  was  impossible  at 
the  time  of  our  visit.     Much  ice,  as  a  result  of 
continuous  south  and  southwest   winds,    had 
driven  into  the  North  Water  and  choked  the 
shore  passage  of  Melville  Bay,  but  groping  out 
in  the  direction  of  the  "middle  sea,"  we  found 
our  exit,  and,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  30th, 
reached  the  first  outpost  of  civilization,  God- 
havn.      Without  special  incident,  beyond  the 
official  courtesies  which  the  expedition  received 
at   the   capitals  of  the    two    Inspectorates  of 
Greenland,     Godhavn     and     Godthaab,    and 
which  must  forever  remain  among  our  pleasur- 
able reminiscences,  the  voyage  was  continued 
to  the  port  of  destination  of  the  Kite,  St.  John's 


140  The  Peary  Relief  Expedition. 

and  thence  to  Philadelphia.  The  debarkation 
at  the  latter  port  was  made  between  ten  and 
eleven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September 
23d.  The  mission  of  the  Relief  Expedition 
had  been  accomplished. 


VI 

The    Greenland   Ice-Cap   and  its 
Glaciers. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  all  Greenland  is 
its  white  mantle.  Seen  from  almost  any 
point  off  the  coast,  except  where  fogs  and  mist 
have  unnaturally  limited  the  horizon,  the  ob- 
ject that  most  distantly  appeals  to  the  eye  is 
some  portion  of  the  interminable  ice-cap, 
which  rises  above  all  other  features  of  the 
country,  and  gives  to  it  its  general  surface. 
Travellers  have  measured  on  this  surface  ele- 
vations of  8,000  and  9,000  feet,  and  not  un- 
likely still  greater  elevations  will  yet  be  re- 
corded. Rising  in  a  measure  dome-like  to 
the  interior,  the  "height  of  land"  attains  its  full 
elevation  only  after  miles  of  country  have  been 
traversed,  and  possibly  the  highest  point  lies 
not  very  far  from  the  axial  centre  of  the 
land.  This  is,  however,  doubtful,  and  there 
seem  to  be  no  very  good  grounds  for  believing 
it  to  be  the  case.  Nordenskjold  reached  an 
elevation  of  5,000  feet  at  an  estimated  distance 
of  73  miles  from  the  ice-margin  ;  Peary  (east 
of  Disko)  of  7,525  feet,  at  lOOmiles;  Nansen  of 
8,970  feet,  at  112  miles  ;  and  Peary,  in  the  far 


142    The  Greenland  Ice-Cap  and  its  Glaciers. 

north,  of  8-9,000  feet,  at  seemingly  not  more 
than  80-100  miles.  Nansen  assumes  the  cur- 
vature of  the  ice-cap  to  be  the  correspondent 
of  an  arc  of  a  circle,  and  he  attril)utes  the 
outline  to  an  evenly-timed  or  distributed 
movement  which  has  been  brought  about 
by  the  weight  (mass)  of  the  ice-cap  itself. 
While  it  may  not  be  easy  to  disprove  (just  as 
it  is  impossible  to  prove)  this  proposition, 
it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  there  is  any  real 
evidence  to  support  it.  The  inland  contour 
is  too  flat  to  permit  of  any  hopeful  consider- 
ation of  the  cause  of  the  curvature  such  as 
it  is. 

Seaward  the  fall  of  the  ice-cap  to  its  lower  level 
is  in  places  rapid.  Beyond  the  Arctic  Circle  this 
lower-level — the  line  of  perpetual  snow — is 
held  in  a  general  way  between  1,700  and  2,200 
feet,  and  seemingly  a  latitudinal  distance  of 
ten  or  fifteen  degrees  does  not  materially  dis- 
turb this  position.  We  found  the  lower  margin 
of  the  summer  snows  on  Disko  Island  (Lat.  69°) 
at  1,800  feet,  on  the  south  side  of  McCormick 
Bay  (77°  30')  at  2,200  feet,  on  the  northeast 
angle  of  the  same  bay  at  1,800  feet,  and  on  the 
cliffs  about  Sonntag  Bay  (Lat.  78°  30')  at  2,000 
feet.  The  exposed  high  ground  beyond  the 
82d  parallel  sustains  the  evenness  of  physio- 
graphic conditions.  At  the  northeast  angle  of 
McCormick  Bay,  where  we  made  our  search 
for  the  Peary   party,  we  attained   an  elevation 


I 


The  Greenland  Tee- Cap  and  its  Glaeiers.  143 

of  3,300  feet  not  further  than  eight  miles  from 
the  ice-border,  and  4,000  feet  is  reached  within 
the  next  four  or  five  miles.  The  ascent  is  here, 
therefore,  approximately  180  feet  to  the  mile, 
most  of  which  is  determined  by  the  structural 
relief  of  the  land. 

The  most  pertinent  inquiry  regarding  the 
ice-covering  of  Greenland  is  that  relating  to 
vertical  development.  It  is  commonly  as- 
sumed that  the  thickness  of  the  snow-cap  can- 
not be  less  in  places  than  5-6,000  feet,  anditis 
even  thought  that  it  might  considerably  exceed 
this  figure.  The  reasons  assigned  for  this 
hypothetical  development  are  generally  stated 
to  be  :  1,  that  the  snow-surface  has,  in  fact, 
an  elevation  of  8-10,000  feet,  without  any  land- 
mass  (or  true  relief)  rising  through  it ;  2,  snow 
foiling  through  long  ages  must  have  accumu- 
lated to  enormous  depths ;  and  3,  no  valleys 
or  deep  depressions  are  anywhere  to  be  met 
with  in  the  interior  (consequently  they  are  filled 
in,  and  to  an  unknown  depth).  Naturally,  this 
assumed  thickness  is  purely  conjectural,  since 
there  are  no  means  for  ascertaining  its  true 
measure;  but  the  circumstance  that  no  mount- 
ain ridges  or  natural  orographic  lines,  indica- 
tive of  a  high  relief  of  the  interior,  rise  above 
the  plateau-surface,  would  seem  to  lend  color 
to  this  hypothesis.  Assuming  that  such  a  vast 
deposit  of  snow  does  in  fact  exist,  it  becomes 
interesting  to  inquire   into  the  conditions  gov- 


144   The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  audits  Glaciers. 

erning  its  accumulation  and  first  formation. 

We  know  notiiing  of  the  petrographic  relief 
of  the  interior,  but  reasoning  from  analogy  or 
from  our  knowledge  of  other  large  land-masses, 
there  is  reason  to  assume  that  Greenland  con- 
forms to  the  normal  type-structure  of  having 
its  greater  eminences  seaward,  and  the  lower 
elevations  central.*  If  this  is  true,  then  ne- 
cessarily must  the  interior  snows  have  a  much 
greater  development  than  the  border  snows, 
since  the  relief  which  supports  them  can  oc- 
cupy but  a  fraction  of  the  full  height  of  the 
8,000-10,000  feet  to  which  the  surface  of  the 
plateau  rises.  But  by  what  process  of  accumu- 
lation can  the  interior  snows  acquire  a  develop- 
ment so  much  greater  than  that  of  the  margin- 
al snows?  One  would  naturally  look  to  the 
sea-bo rd  as  the  region  of  excessive  or  greatest 
precipitation,  and,  indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 


*  It  can,  however,  be  assumed  that  the  whole  interior  is,  like 
Mexico,  one  vast  rock  plateau  of  very  nearly  uniform  eleva- 
tion. While  it  is  true  that  such  a  plateau  of  igneous  rock 
may  exist  over  a  very  large  area  north  of  the  69th  parallel  of 
latitude,  it  is  equally  true  that  over  still  larger  areas  it  does 
not  exist,  and  that  its  absence  in  no  essential  way  modifies  the 
relief  of  the  land.  Nansen,  on  the  other  hand,  assumes  that 
in  all  probability  the  configuration  of  the  country  is  similar 
to  that  of  Norway,  or  the  Scandinavian  peninsula — a  mount- 
ainous country,  with  its  greater  elevations  central.  The  com- 
parison, however,  can  scarcely  be  said  to  apply.  The  Scan- 
dinavian peninsula,  like  Italy,  is  a  narrow  backboned  strip, 
very  difl'erent  from  the,  broad  expanse  of  Greenland,  which 
has  many  of  its  most  elevated  summits  situated  not  far  from 
the  coast-border. 


The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  and  its  Glacier !<.   145 

ceive  how,  in  a  region  like    Greenland,  the  in- 
terior can  bo  more  favored  in  this  respect  than 
the  exterior.     The    depleting  of  the  clouds  by 
the  cold  coast-wall,  and  the  nearness  to  it  of  the 
open  evaporating  basin,  the    sea,  must  almost 
of  necessity  cause  a  maximum    discharge  over 
the   littoral  tracts.     The   vast  thickness  of  the 
inland    snows  and    ice  must  be  due  to  a  cause 
other  than  that  of  simple  or  natural  precipita- 
tion.    Nordenskjold   assumed   that  the  strong 
and    rapid   condensation  of  moisture  by   the 
peripheral  tracts  of  Greenland  could   not  but 
deprive  the  in-blowing    winds  of  their  vapor, 
and  thereby    create   a  region  in    the   interior 
largely    devoid  of  precipitation — a  dry  oasis. 
This   was    practically  a  restatement  of  the  hy- 
pothesis  enunciated  by  Alexander  von  Hum- 
boldt  that,  were   the    Alps   only    moderatel)'' 
higher  than  they  now  are  they  would  pass  in- 
to   a  region   beyond  the    clouds,    and    conse- 
quently   into   a  snowless    plane.      The    rapid 
diminution  of  snow-fall  on  the  Alps  as  we  as- 
cend  from    about   8,000    feet  to    10,000   feet, 
which  has  been  so  significantly    demonstrated 
by  Dollfuss-Ausset  and  the  Schlagintweits,  cer- 
tainly   seems  to    sustain    this    position  ;  yet  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  enormous  thickness 
of  snow    and    ice    that  is  found  at  the   greater 
elevations  of  some  of  the    Alpine   peaks — for 
example,    300    feet,    on    the    Jungfrau   at    an 
elevation  of  10,200  feet,   of  200  feet   on   the 


146   The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  and  its  Glaciers. 

Piz  Bernina  at  13,000  feet — is  a  condition 
which  is  not  absolutely  in  harmony  with 
that  rapid  diminution  of  precipitation  which 
has  been  assumed.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
fact  that  in  many  years  a  number  of  the 
more  prominent  Alpine  peaks  were  deprived 
of  their  snowy  covering,  shows  that  at  certain 
periods  this  covering  is  not  very  thick.*  The 
condition  of  the  interior  of  Grinnell  Land, 
much  of  which — even  the  "hills"  of  respecta- 
ble elevation,  of  from  1,500  to  3,000  feet — was 
found  to  be  devoid  of  a  snow-covering  by  the 
officers  of  the  Greely  Expedition,  tends  in  a 
measure  to  confirm  Nordenskjold's  hypothesis. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  well  known  that 
Nordenskjold's  own  researches  in  the  interior  of 
Greenland,  as  well  as  the  more  recent  observa- 
tions of  Nansen  and  Peary,  failed  to  demon- 
strate   the  condition  that  had  been  assumed, 

*  It  should  be  noted  with  reference  to  the  observations  made  by 
Dollfuss-Au!=set  on  the  Theodule  Pass,  that  probably  many 
of  the  more  elevated  mountain- regions  receive  their  heaviest 
snow-deposit  during  the  summer  months  (instead  of  the 
winter),  when  the  clouds,  also  more  highly  charged  during 
this  season  of  the  year,  ascend  to  the  highest  level  before  they 
are  deprived  of  their  vapor.  The  vastly  diminished  suow- 
fall  that  has  been  observed  during  the  winter  months  in  t  e 
higli  northern  regions  and  the  low  position  of  the  cloud-line 
seem  likewise  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  snows  of  the 
loftier  Greenland  mountains,  whose  crests  and  summits  rise 
to  8,000  or  10,000  feet,  must  be  principally  the  result  of  sum- 
mer, rather  than  of  winter,  accumulation.  The  mountain- 
peak  snows  must,  however,  be  distinguished  from  the  snows 
of  the  interior. 


The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  audits  Glaciers.  147 

but  on  the  contrary  give  a  flat  contradiction 
to  it.  Tlie  interior  of  the  land  liarbors  no 
oasis,  but  is  one  continuous  ice  (snow)  sheet. 

To  explain    the  anomaly   that   des])ite    the 
"drying"  of  the  in-passing  clouds  by  the  mar- 
ginal mountains  the  snow  accumulation  in  the 
far  interioi'  should  be  much    heavier  than  it  is 
on  the  coastal   fringe,  it  can  be  assumed    that 
the   interior   receives  the  discharges   from  the 
clouds   from  hotli  the  water   areas,  the  eastern 
and  the  western,  and   that    what  is  lost  in  ac- 
tual quantity  from  one  side  alone  is  more  than 
made  good  by  a  remaining    quantity   received 
from  the  other  side.     There  would  then  be  an 
equality  at  least,  if  not  a  large   excess.     This 
may  be  true  to  an   extent,  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  overlapping  of  the  cloud-banks   coming  in 
from    the    opposite    sides.    But   granting   the 
overlapping  of  the  deposits  from  the  two  sides, 
it  is  still  exceedingly    questionable  if  it  would 
explain  the    enormous   excess  of  material  as  it 
appears  to-day  in  the  interior. 

An  easier  solution  seems  to  be  given  by  as- 
suming that  the  inland  snows  are  largely  a 
wind-drift  accumulation — the  winds  driving 
in  to  the  interior  (and  there  in  a  measure 
focussing)  necessarily  promoting  excess  of  ac- 
cumulation. This  is,  in  fact,  the  simple  ex- 
planation of  well-known  and  to  an  extent  par- 
allel phenomena    wdiich    are    presented  in  re- 


148   The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  and  its  Glaciers. 

gions  of  formative  sands  and  loose  earth — the 
"sand-mountains"  of  many  desert  tracts,  much 
of  the  loess  of  China,  the  high  hills  of  coral 
islands,  etc.  It  is  well  known  that  the  en- 
tire height  of  the  Bermuda  Islands,  260  feet, 
is  of  wind-drift  construction,  and  still  greater 
elevations  of  the  same  kind  have  been  recorded 
as  occurring  on  other  coral  islands.  It  is  true 
that  these  hills  are  in  the  nature  of  giant  dunes 
rather  than  extended  plateaus,  but  this  is  due 
mainly  to  the  limited  area  over  which  wind- 
action  has  free  play ;  were  the  areas  of  deposi- 
tion much  larger,  they  would  almost  positively 
conduce  to  plateau  formation. 

So  far  as  this  explanation,  applied  to  the 
interior  Greenland  snows,  is  concerned,  it  may 
be  contended  that  the  prevalent  winds  of  the 
region  are  largely  from  the  contrary  direction 
— i.  e.,  they  blow  from  the  ice-cap  seaward, 
and  ought  consequently  to  produce  diminution, 
rather  than  accumulation,  in  the  interior.  Mr. 
Peary  found  the  out-blowing  winds  almost 
constant  throughout  his  journey — indeed,  they 
were  in  great  measure  his  directors  in  a  "com- 
pass" course.  But  the  journey  was  accom- 
plished in  the  summer  months,  and  it  could 
hardly  be  expected  that  the  course  of  the  winds 
would  be  otherwise  in  that  season  of  the  year. 
The  warm  sea-area  is  at  that  time  the  suction 
area,  and  to  it  would  be  directed  the  indraught 
of  cold    air    from    the    ice-covered    interior. 


TJie  Greenland  Ice-Cap  and  its  Glaciers.   149 

During  probably  full  eight  mouths  of  the  year  the 
reversed  conditions  would  obtain,  or  rather,  the 
direction  of  the  winds  would  be  reversed.  The 
l)repontlerance  of  ocean-  over  land-winds 
would  give  a  large  balance  in  favor  of  the 
in-blovv  with  the  result  of  causing  the  snows 
to  drive  inward,  whether  from  the  one  side  or 
the  other,  and  there  spread  themselves  in  the 
form  of  a  vast  plateau-surface.  This  is,  as  I 
conceive  it,  the  most  likely  explanation  of 
Greenland's  heavy  ice-cap,  a  parallel  to  which 
is  presented  by  the  sand  and  ash  plateau  of 
the  Mexican  Republic. 

What  thickness  of  the  interior  ice  and  snows 
is  really  needed  for  the  formation  of  the  large 
glaciers  which  almost  everywhere  push  out 
into  the  direction  of  the  sea,  is  a  question  that 
cannot,  perhaps,  be  answered  at  the  present 
moment.  It  is  all  but  certain,  however,  that 
the  enormous  thickness  which  has  generally 
been  insisted  upon  is  not  a  necessary  condi- 
tion for  the  existence  of  the  large  ice-sheets. 
Indeed,  apart  from  latitudinal  extent,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  thickness  of  the  ice  in  any  of 
the  Greenland  glaciers  exceeds,  or  even  equals, 
that  of  the  largest  ice-sheets  of  Switzerland. 
The  Humboldt  Glacier,  which  discharges  be- 
yond the  79th  parallel  into  the  Kane  Basin 
(Smith  Sound),  and  with  a  frontage  stated  to 
be  from  50  to  70  miles,  is  generally  assumed 
to  be  the  largest  of  all  known  glaciers,  yet  the 


150   The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  and  its  Glaciers. 

height  of  its  sea-wall  has  been  determined  to 
be  not  much  over  300  feet,  or  but  little  in  ex- 
cess of  that  of  the  Muir  Glacier,  and  scarcely 
a  fourth  of  the  thickness  of  the  ice  which  has 
been  assumed  for  some  of  the  Alpine  glaciers.* 
None  of  the  glaciers  which  I  had  personally 
the  opportunity  to  examine  had  any  really  very 
great  thickness  of  ice — i.  e.,  a  thickness  much 
exceeding  200 — 300  feet.  Usually  the  sea- 
wall did  not  measure  more  than  one-half  this 
thickness.  It  is  true  that  our  examination 
did    not   extend    more    than  a    few  miles   up 

*  I  strongly  suspect  that  the  dioiensions  of  this  glacier  have 
been  largely  over-stated,  as  the  dimensious  of  almost  every- 
thing Arctic — capes,  baj's,  islands,  ice-bergs,  dangers — are 
over-stated  by  the  earlier  explorers.  The  dimensions  are  so 
greatly  in  excess  of  those  of  any  other  Greenland  glacier 
that  a  re-measurement  should  be  made  before  they  are  ac- 
cepted as  a  finality.  The  charts  of  the  northwest  coast  are  so 
erroneous  in  their  details  that  little  dependence  can  be  placed 
on  them  ;  bays  and  sounds  are  given  with  double  the  ex- 
tent that  really  belongs  to  them — e.  g.,  Whale  and  Murchi- 
son  Sounds,  Wolstenholme  Sound,  etc., — and  so  their  enter- 
ing glaciers  are  made  to  appear  very  much  larger  than  they 
really  are.  Many  ot  the  so-called  3Iers  de  Glace  which  ajv 
pear  on  nearly  all  charts,  leading  one  to  assume  the  existence 
of  vast  interior  or  summit  glaciers,  are  in  reality  only  the  ice 
cap  or  feeding-basins,  the  correspondent  of  the  firn  or  neve. 
Again,  where  many  maps  indicate  a  solid  land- frontage, 
without  a  glacial  break,  the  actual  face  of  the  country  shows 
it  be  almost  riddled  by  glacial  valleys.  Thus,  between  Cape 
York  and  the  Petowik  Glacier  no  le.ss  than  eight  glaciers, 
and  of  goodly  size,  break  through  the  granite  cliffs,  and  tha 
same  configuration  of  glacier  following  rapidly  upon  glacier 
presents  itself  almost  everywhere  beyond  the  Petowik 
Glacier. 


The  Greenland  Ice-Cap  and  its  Glaciers.  151 

stream,  and  it  is  possible,  and  even  very  prob- 
able, that  a  considerably  greater  thickness  of 
ice  would  be  found  (in  some  of  the  glaciers,  at 
least)  in  positions  nearer  to  their  feeding  basins. 
The  difficulty  of  approach  to  the  Melville  Bay 
glaciers,  which  are  probably  the  largest  after 
the  Humboldt  Glacier,  prevented  any  careful 
observations  being  made  on  these,  but  seem- 
ingly even  their  terminal  walls  were  of 
no  extraordinary  height.  Yet  it  is  true  that 
the  ice-bergs  which  course  about  Melville  Bay 
are  many  of  them  fully  200 — 250  feet  above 
water,  and,  doubtless,  they  descend  in  cases 
at  least  600 — 800,  or  even  a  thousand,  feet 
beneath  the  water-line.  In  what  manner  the 
height  of  an  ice-berg  is  related  to  the  thick- 
ness of  glacial  ice,  is  a  question  that  still  re- 
mains to  be  determined.  The  height  of  a 
berg  may  very  readily  be  a  length  in  section 
of  a  glacier,  especially  in  the  case  of  dis- 
charges from  the  solid-bodied  or  non-cre- 
vassed  ice-streams. 

The  insignificant  development  of  the  ice- 
cap, in  its  relation  to  the  large  glacial  streams 
which  radiate  off  from  it,  is  so  striking  a  pecu- 
liarity in  some  parts  of  Greenland  as  to  have 
suggested  the  suspicion  that  many  of  the  ex- 
isting glaciers  are  relicts  of  the  Great  Ice  Age. 
Bessels,  tlie  accomplished  scientist  of  the  Pol- 
aris Expedition,  actually  assumed  this  ex- 
planation   for   the    by  no  means    insignificant 


152    Tlie  Greenland  Ice-Cap  and  i/x  ChirtrvH. 

glaciers  of  Herbert  and  Nortlnuuborland  Is- 
lands, lying  somewhat  above  the  771h  par- 
allel of  latitude,  which  descend  from  an  ice- 
cap of  from  1,800  to  2,500  feet  elevation;  it 
did  not  seem  possible  that  the  comparatively 
feeble  accumulation  of  snow  which  is  found  at 
this  altitude  could  originate  ice-streams  of  the 
dimensions  which  are  there  found.  1  am 
convinced  that  there  is  no  real  basis  for  this  in- 
terpretation. The  snow-covering  of  these  is- 
lands belongs  to  themselves,  and  feeble 
though  it  be,  it  is  quite  competent  to  explain 
the  associated  phenomena.  Many  of  the 
"hanging"  glaciers  of  Herbert  Island,  which 
descend  over  slopes  of  some  30—35  degrees, 
are  so  attenuated  in  their  upper  parts  as  to  be 
almost  extinguished  before  reaching  the  sum- 
mer ice-cap  ;  yet  basally  they  rapidly  increase 
in  dimensions,  so  that  before  they  finally  disap- 
pear they  measure  not  less  than  40 — 50  feet 
in  thickness.  The  slowly  accumulating  snows 
descend  over  the  first-formed  layers,  wdiether 
by  sliding  or  otherwise,  and  help  to  build  up 
the  base  while  they  thin  out  the  top.  These 
hanging  glaciers  have  all  the  structural  fea- 
tures of  the  normal  glacier  type.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  some  of  the  minor  glaciers  have, 
indeed,  been  formed  without  the  assistance  of 
any  ice-cap  or  of  tlie  accumulated  snows  of  a 
nev6  basin.  Such  glacial  streams  might,  per- 
haps, be    advantageously    termed    ravine   or 


The  Greenland  Ice- Cap  audits  Glaciers.  153 

couloir  glaciers;  they  seem  not  to  be  numerous. 
Geologists   frequently    distinguish    between 
the  glaciers  of  Greenland   and    those  of  other 
countries,   and  insist  that   the    phenomena  of 
the  Great  Ice  Age  must  be  studied  in  the  light 
of  the  evidence    afforded  by  the.  ice-sheets  of 
Greenland  (and  of  other  Arctic  regions)  rather 
than  by  that  of  the  glaciers  of  south-central 
Europe,  of  the  Caucasus,  or  of  the  Himalayas, 
I  have   not  been   able  to  determine    precisely 
in    what   the    distinction    lies.      The   glaciers 
(and  their  workings)  of  Greenland  seem  to  me  to 
be  the  exact  counterpart  of  those  of  the  Alps;  the 
differences  which   they    present  are  individual 
and  not  specific,  just  as  they  are  in  all  regions 
of  glaciation.     They   are    large  or   small,  are 
steeply-inclined  or  nearly  horizontal,  rapidly- 
moving   or   almost   stationary,   just  as  special 
conditions  of  formation  and  moulding  present 
themselves.     They    may,  again,  be  largely  fis- 
sured or  solid,  provided  with   moraines  or  des- 
titute of  them,  and    clean  or  dirty.     Many  of 
them  discharge  into  the  sea,  others  stop  before 
reaching  the  water-line.     All  are  now,  or  have 
been  in  a  recent   period,   undergoing  contrac- 
tion (recession). 


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INDEX  OF  REFERENCES. 

Name.  Page. 

Aldrich, 14 

Andersson, 95 

Astriip, 81,  107,  ILT),  183 

Back, 54,   5^5 

Baffin, 83,  34 

Barentz, 28 

Barrington, 25 

Barrow, 11,  80,  47,  53 

Bateson, 84,  85 

Belcher, 54 

Bessels, 84,  103 

Beyer, 96 

Brainard  (See  Lockwood  and  Braiuard.) 

Broberg, . 95,  185 

Bruyne, 59 

Bryant, 84,  99,  118,  123,  135 

Buchan, 37,  38,  58 

Buddington, 84 

Bylot  (See  Baffin.) 

Clarke, 84,  35 

Collinson, 54,  56 

Cook, 81,  103,  107,  129,  183 

Cordiner, 16 

Crawford, 54 

Dollfuss-Ausset, 145 

"Doniinvis  Vobiscuip," 28 

Dunphy, 98,    107 

Ekroll, 8,  9 

Entrikin, 84,  99,  124,  135 

Findlay, 56 

Fitzroy, 55 

Fotherby, 88 

Franklin, 18,  87,  38,   53,  58 

Frederick, 90,  92 


k 


156  Index  of  References. 

Frobisher, 1" 

Garlington, 80,  84 

Gibson, 81,  107, 133 

Grav 59,  70 

Greelv, 14,  67,  80,  146 

Hall, 14,  49,  50,  104 

Hayes, ■    •    .    .      49,103,104 

Hensou, 81,    107,  119 

Hite, 84,    135 

Hudson, 30,  31,  32 

Humboldt, 145 

Inglefield, .-55 

Jackson 73-75 

"  Jeannette," 7,  18 

Kane, - 49,  84,  104 

Koldewey, 31,   54,  59,  70 

Lamont, 55 

Lockwood  and  Brainard,  .    .  10,  18,  20,  21,  22,  46,  63,  72 

Mac  Callam, 25 

Markham,  A.  H., 14,  19,  22,  67,  72,  73 

Markham,  C.  R., 54,  56,  60,  73 

Maury, 54 

McClintock, 54,  56,  63,  64,  85 

McClure, 13 

McKinley, 129 

Meehan, 84,  135 

Melville, 67 

MiUs, 84,  199 

Murchison, 55 

Murphy, 129 

Nansen, ",  1-11,  142 

Nares, 49,  58,  61 

Nordenskjbld,  .  13,  16,  56,  57,  58,  65,  66,  91,  141,  145,  146 

Ommaney       54,  56 

Osborn,  .  54,  56,  60 

Palander,  .  65 

Parr 19 


Index  of  References.  157 

Parry,   8,  la,  U,  22,  2.H,  2-1,  27,  Wl,  39-51,  58,  62,  63,  65,  67 

^ayer, 21,  22,  31,59,  60,65 

Peary,  II.  E.,     10,  21,  22,  46,  70,  71, 81-84,  107,  112,  .    . 

Ii5,  129,  133,  136,  139,  148 

Peary,  J.  D., 81,107,111,119,126 

Petermaun, 51,  54,  58,  59,  60,  65,  70 

Peterson, ](5 

PliiPPS. ."3,  34,  35,  36 

Pil^^.  .    .    .    •• 80,84,85,110 

Poole, 32    33 

"Proteus," 80,   84,'ll4 

I^-'^e- 56,  64 

Rawlinsou, 5^ 

I^i^liards, •   .        ...  52,  54,  56,  64 

Robinsou, og 

I^<^s«.  J-. 37^    103 

ROSB,    J.    C, rg 

Roiile, gQ 

I^yder, ■    ■  70 

^yP' 28, 29 

Sabine, ^^ 

Schlagintweit, 245 

Scoresby, 34,  35,  38,  53 

Smith, gQ 

Stephens, 26 

Stokes, 84    135 

"Tegethoff," .  18,  59 

Verhoeff, 81,  107,  128,  129,  138,'l39 

Vorse, 84,  135 

Weyprecht,      17,31,  58.59 

Wiggins,   J., jg 

Wiggins,  R., jg 

Young, 55    74 

CORRECTION. 
Pages  7, 18.     For  Jeanette  read  Jeannette. 


Captain  Richard  Pike— A  Retrospect. 

While  these  pages  are  going  through  the 
press  intelligence  is  received  of  the  death,  on 
the  5th  of  May,  of  Captain  Richard  Pike. 
Through  this  death  the  guild  of  the  northern 
"ice-masters"  is  deprived  of  one  of  its  most 
noted  and  conspicuous  members.  From  early 
manhood  through  to  his  last  day  Captain 
Pike  was  a  man  of  the  sea.  Although  not 
strictly  fond  of  the  "ocean  blue,"  he  was  rest- 
less on  land,  and  seemed  always  impatient  to 
be  active  in  his  calling.  The  vessels  under 
his  command  sailed  the  waters  from  New- 
foundland to  La  Plata,  and  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  frozen  north.  He  was  thus  a 
man  of  all  climates,  but  his  home,  as  a  sealer 
and  whaler,  was  preeminently  the  abode  of 
snow  and  ice.  His  familiarity  with  the  north- 
ern waters  was  such  as  to  always  insure  re- 
spect and  consideration  for  his  opinions  and 
judgment,  a  confidence  that  was  not  shaken 
through  the  misfortunes  which  broke  into  his 
career,  and  which  a  long  period  of  active 
service  is  almost  certain  to  compass.  The 
recollection  of  one  of  these  seems  never  to 
have  completely  left  the  mind  of  the  good 
and  genial  tar,  no  more  than  the  reality  ever 


160     Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect. 

left  the  body  in  which  it  had  sown  the  seeds 
of  dissociation.  The  crushing  of  the  Proteus, 
the  vessel  of  the  Second  Greely  Relief  Expe- 
dition, by  the  ice-floes  of  Smith  Sound  in 
July,  1883,  had  graven  a  deep  reminiscent 
furrow — one  too  deep  even  for  the  mellowing 
influences  of  time  to  efface ;  nor  did  exonera- 
tion by  two  Naval  Boards  of  Inquiry  succeed 
in  restoring  to  him  that  spirit  which  was 
shattered  in  the  thought  that  the  fate  of  an 
Arctic  expedition  hung  in  the  balance  of  his 
misfortunates.  But  Captain  Pike  remained 
true  and  good  to  his  men,  and  to  the  rugged 
Newfoundlanders  he  was  endearingly  known 
as  "good  old  Captain  Pike." 

The  following  pages  briefly  recite  the  events 
of  a  few  days  surrounding  the  catastrophe  to 
the  Proteus — the  approach  to  Cape  Sabine, 
the  crushing  of  the  vessel  in  the  ice,  and  the 
preparations  for  the  retreat.  They  are  part  of 
the  official  "log"  of  the  vessel  which,  was  con- 
fided to  the  author  by  Captain  Pike,  with  the 
request  that  it  might  some  day  be  given  to  the 
public  as  a  supplement  to  an  Arctic  journal. 
No  more  fitting  place  appears  than  the  narra- 
tive of  the  expedition  of  the  Kite,  the  ship 
which  he  so  successfully  conducted  to  her 
point  of  destination  on  two  successive  voyages. 

Thursday,  July  19th: — A.M.  begins  mod- 
erate, breeze  from  S.  E.,  with  rain  and  thick 
fog — 5  A.  M.,  fog  clearing  up,  no  water  to  be 


Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect.     161 

seen  to  the  northward — hauled  ship  back  to 
S.  E.,  towards  some  lakes  of  water,  thinking 
to  get  around  the  ice  in  that  direction — ship 
steaming  full  speed — 7,  clear,  saw  the  land — 
noon,  fine,  no  water  to  be  seen  along  the  coast. 
Latitude  by  meridian  altitude  75°  30'  N. — 3 
P.  M.,  stopped  the  ship  by  the  edge  of  ice  off 
some  islands  in  Melville  Bay  in  Lat.  75°  42' 
N.,  Long.  61°  50'  W.— 7  P.  M.  saw  no  chance 
to  get  to  Cape  York  in  shore,  turned  ship  and 
went  full  speed  to  the  southward  to  try  to  get 
around  to  the  westward — Midnight  calm  and 
clear  sky,  a  little  young  ice  making  in  the 
lakes  of  water;  ship  making  good  way  through 
loose  ice  to  the  westward. 

Friday,  July  20th:— A.  M.  begins  calm  and 
clear — ship  steaming  full  speed  around  large 
sheets  of  ice  in  a  westerly  direction — 2  A.  M. 
shot  a  Polar  bear  after  chasing  him  some  time 
— 3  A.  M.,  ice  close,  but  ship  making  good  way 
to  the  w^estward,  two  men  belonging  to  the  ex- 
pedition busy  skinning  the  bear — 8  A.  M.,  ice 
in  very  heavy  sheets  to  the  westward,  turned 
ship  to  the  southward  towards  some  loose  ice. 
— Noon,  got  in  a  '  southern  water  which 
trimmed  around  to  N.  W.,  going  full  speed, 
Lat.  obs.  75°  17'  N.— 2  P.  M.  turned  after  a 
Polar  bear,  shot  him  after  a  long  chase,  hoisted 
him  on  board  and  went  full  speed  on  her 
course— 7  P.  M.,  Cape  York  S.  E.  about  15 
miles,    light  breeze  from  S.  S.  E.,    with   light 


162     Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect. 

misty  rain — 8.30  P.  M.  shot  a  dog  hood-seal 
on  the  ice,  hoisted  it  on  board  and  skinned  it 
— Midnight  cahn  and  clear,  but  very  thick  to 
the  southward;  going  full  speed  along  the 
coast,  very  little  ice  close  in,  great  deal  to  the 
westward. 

Saturday,  July  21st: — A.  M.  begins  calm 
and  fine — 1.30  A.  M.  passed  Conical  Rock  off 
Cape  Dudley  Digges  about  a  mile  off,  passing 
through  loose  ice  towards  Carey  Islands,  as  we 
were  going  to  visit  the  eastern  one  of  the  group 
— 7  A.  M.  off  Cape  Athol,  thick,  black  fog  to 
the  northward,  close  down  to  the  water,  but 
clear  along  the  coast  to  the  eastward. — 8  A. 
M.  thick  fog  ail  around,  ice  in  very  large  sheets 
but  not  heavy — 10  A.  M.  fog  cleared  off,  no 
chance  of  getting  north  on  the  course  steering, 
as  it  was  all  one  sheet  between  the  ship  and 
the  island,  turned  ship  to  S.  W.  in  some  veins 
of  water  to  get  around  to  the  westward,  strong 
wind  from  W.  S.  W. — Noon,  lakes  of  water 
trimming  north,  followed  around  the  sheets  S. 
E.,  Carey  Islands  bore  N.  E. — 3  P.  M.  hove  to, 
off  the  island  in  open  water — bergs  very  thick, 
landed  on  the  island  to  examine  stores  landed 
there  by  the  English  Expedition  in  1875 — 6 
P.  M.  boat  returned,  reported  the  boat  left 
there  in  good  condition,  but  a  great  deal  of  the 
stores  spoiled — 6.30  P.  M.  turned  ship  north- 
wards, going  full  speed  for  Pandora  Harbor — 
11  P.  M.   passed  Hackluyt  Island — Midnight, 


Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect.     1()3 

light  biveze  from  S.  \V.,  and  fine  but  hazy  on 
the  hmd. 

Sunday,  July  22nd: — A.  M.  begins  calm  and 
fine,  going  full  si)eed  to  the  northward  in  open 
water — 5    A.  M.    close    by    Cape    Alexander, 
stopped  the  engines  a  short  time  for  some  little 
repairs — when  finished,  started  again  for  Pan- 
dora Harbor — 7  A.  M.  steamed  in  the  Harbor, 
Expedition  party  went  on  shore  to  see  for  the 
record  left  by  the  S.  S.  Neptune  in  1882,  but 
failed    to    find    any — 8    A.  M.    boat  returned, 
steamed  on  for  Littleton  Island,  stopped  there 
a  little  while,  but  did  not  land,  started    full 
speed  to  the  northward — Noon,  met  ice  to  the 
north,  steamed  to  the  edge — not  a  break  to  be 
seen   to  the  northward  ;  steamed  to  the  edge, 
still  all  solid  north — turned  ship  towards  Cape 
Sabine — 3.30  P.  M.  Lieut.  Garlington  went  to 
the  Cape  to   look  after  a  depot  of  provisions 
left  last  year  by  the  S.  S.  Neptune — 7  P.  M. 
came  on  board  and  reported  open  water  to  the 
northward,  had  some  conversation    with  him 
as    to    going  out  in  the  ship — 7.30  hove    up 
anchor  and   proceeded  full  speed  toward  the 
Cape,   saw  a  little  water  across  toward  Cape 
Albert  and    by    hard    steaming    and    butting 
sheets  to  the  north  gained  that  point.* — Mid- 
night, water  closing  up  still  ....   north  tow^- 
ard  Cape  Alljert — calm  and  fine. 

Monday,  July  23rd  begins  calm  and  fine — 

*The  last  three  words  are  erased  iu  the  log. 


164     Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect. 

2  A.  M.  Inittintr  for  open  water  off  Cape  Al- 
bert, but  coukl  not  succeed  ;  turned  ship  in  an 
easterly  direction  to  try  to  get  around  ;  got 
within  about  100  yards  of  the  water  when  the 
ship  got  nipped  and  could  not  move  off  Cape 
Albert — 5  A.  M.  ship  loose,  steamed  north 
about'  5  miles  when  we  were  stopped;  no 
water  to  be  seen  north  ;  put  back  to  the  open 
water  south  towards  Cape  Sabine — 7  A.  M. 
lay  up  in  a  small  lake  of  water — 8,  started 
south  again,  at  times  very  difficult  to  get  the 
ship  through  as  the  ice  was  very  close  and 
heavy — 3  P.  M.  close  by  the  main  water  in  the 
Sound  when  two  heavy  sheets  caught  the  ship, 
rafting  all  around  her,  carrying  starboard,  main 
rail,  bulwark,  stanchions  and  everything  be- 
fore it ;  ordered  boats  and  provisions  to  be  put 
on  the  ice  which  was  still  rafting — 4.30  ice 
stove  in  the  starboard  side  abreast  of  boiler — 
6.30  P.  M.  filled  to  the  decks  with  water— 7.30 
ice  opened  and  the  ship  sank  ;  Cape  Sabine  S. 
S.'  E.  about  10  miles ;  held  a  consultation  with 
Lieutenant  Garlington  and  Colwell  regarding 
getting  provisions,  etc.,  landed. — Midnight 
started  one  boat,  being  successful  in  landing 
one  load  a  little  to  the  west  of  Cape  Sabine. 

Tuesday,  July  24th. — A.  M.  begins  light 
breeze  from  the  westward  and  fine — ice  drift- 
ing out  around  Cape  Sabine  very  fast;  all 
hands  employed  with  five  boats  landing  pro- 
visions off  the   ice — 8.30  A.  M.  all  hands  left 


Captain  Richard  Pike — A  Retrospect .     165 

the  floe  and  landed  close  to  Payer  Plarbor 
where  most  of  the  provisions  and  clothing 
were  landed — 2  P.  M.  boiled  some  tea  and  had 
dinner;  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  employed 
fixing  up  stores  and  collecting  them  together; 
wind  south  with  thick  fog — a  little  ice  passing 
down  the  sound ;  midnight,  strong  breeze  with 
thick  fog. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


REC'D  UMfflO 


JUL  02 1988 


Form  L9-42jn-8,'49  (B5573)444 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


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